Hey, Freenow! The app includes taxis in its offer (or “La paix des braves”) – Déplacements Pros

After scooters, scooters, bicycles, car-sharing services, car rental, and, of course, VTCs, it is now taxis that can be ordered on the Freenow app, which proclaims itself, under of this diversity of offerings, “superapp” – does that imply she dons a blue leotard and red panties? We hope.

Help!

But when these different mobility solutions, “micro” but not only, were the result of partnerships with structured entities – TIER, Dott, VOI, Cooltra, Share Now, this new proposal requires a commercial approach with a scalpel. It is practically a question of approaching almost individually each of the approximately 10,000 self-employed people in Île-de-France, since it is in this geographical area that the offer has been deployed since June 1.

The preceding sentence contains a misnomer. In reality, and above all, by legal definition, all taxi drivers are independent. But some are less so than others. We are thinking in particular of those affiliated with Alpha Taxis (a thousand drivers in Île-de-France) and, above all, those of the national leader: G7, around 9,000 taxis in the Paris region.

Count it up: 9,000 G7 + 1,000 Alpha = 10,000. There remains the other half of the Ile-de-France fleet as potential partners for Freenow. It goes mezzo voce anyway, which is understandable, given the magnitude of the door-to-door – sorry: door-to-door – to which Freenow must submit. According to Dimitri Tsygalnitzky, DG France of the app, “they were 400 last week, 600 this week, we hope a thousand at the beginning of the summer, and several thousand at the end of the year“. But the indies, the real ones, are only Freenow’s priority target, the others are still in the crosshairs. Well, we’ll see.

Hum!

Be that as it may, it’s still an ambiguous episode unfolding before our eyes: the VTC/taxis war is definitely taking a funny turn. First there was total war. Between taxi drivers who pay for a license at the price of a suburban or provincial flag (depending on the suburb, depending on the province, roughly €100,000) and improvised drivers, whose status was so disruptive that a new noun – “uberization” – not really ameliorative, and frankly repellent in terms of labor law.

Total war, of course. And position too, the most deadly, whose trenches were dug in the courts, labor courts but not only. Up to a second phase, well illustrated by the interview granted to us, last February, by the Deputy CEO of G7. Basically, Yann Ricordel then explained to us how much the VTCs had awakened the need to modernize his shop, with quite a few kilometers on the odometer, since the Taxis de la Marne of the First World War were them (yes, if ).

> Read also: Y. Ricordel: “Our regulated prices are an asset”

Hope

And so there would be this third phase where yesterday’s enemies would become today’s best buddies. Today, why not. But tomorrow? If, after a while, having eluded the pure sugar indies, Freenow approached a little too close to the G7 drivers?… Again: to be seen.

In the meantime, taxis deliberately decide to offer their services on the Freenow app. We abandon the geopolitical metaphor for a while, for cosmology: we are not either, according to Dimitri Tsygalnitzky, in a Copernican revolution: “Freenow’s historical profession is the taxi. Moreover, the original name of the app is “Mytaxi”. We are, originally, the European G7“. Suddenly, considering the history, Freenow would therefore be the ideal agent to sign this peace of the brave between TMC and taxis.

Provided that the clauses are not Versailles. The advantage for taxis: a commission on each of their “Freenow” trips of 15% (eventually at 12.5% ​​per tax game at the end of the year) but no subscription. In any case for the moment: these conditions are an introductory offer.

hype

And for the user? Already, the obvious advantage of finding different modes of transport on the same app: practicality and economy of bytes. Which makes Dimitri Tsygalnitzky say that Freenow is “the Booking or the Expedia of urban mobility“. But also to meet needs there that differ less in the type of travelers than in the objectives of use. Taxis are already available on Freenow in various European countries. Hindsight is sufficient for the same to explain:

“Taxis will be favored during rush hours so that the vehicle can use the bus lanes. Or in trips to airports or train stations to be driven right in front of your “door”, not necessarily accessible to VTCs.“

On the other hand, VTCs will probably be preferred for long-distance journeys, especially in the suburbs, unprofitable destinations for Parisian taxis, prohibition of “marauding” (arriving at the end of the race in Puteaux, for example, a Parisian taxi cannot take a passenger in this commune, he has to cross the ring road again’) obliges.

Hot!

Concretely, on the app, when ordering motorized transport from point A to point B, the user is offered a comparative display according to two criteria: price and waiting time. Obviously, in terms of tariffs, for taxis, it is a range which is proposed, the amount of the race being made “on the meter”. Again, the AI ​​will highlight the offers corresponding to the preferences of the last two races purchased.

For business customers, the use of taxis via Freenow allows, one suspects, the same invoicing, transmission and reporting systems (for the traveler as for the travel manager) as for the other modes of mobility of the app, thanks to partners Cytric (Amadeus) and Concur. Payment can be made in cash (which, for tourists, can lean towards the taxi rather than the VTC: you have to spend the changed currencies), personal card or business card. Note that, unsurprisingly, you can, on the app, switch from your personal profile to your professional profile in complete fluidity.

Hips!

The press release informing about this implementation of taxis in the Freenow app in Île-de-France specifies that it “hasresults in better availability and greater flexibility of service, thus helping to build user loyalty for the benefit of all drivers. In Berlin, for example (…) the growth rate of requests for rides increased by 17% and the rate of support increased by 2 to 3 points.“

After such a statement, we suspect that Marne-la-Vallée will be covered by this new “taxis” offer via Freenow. Because under these conditions, it’s no longer the peace of the brave, it’s Disneyland!