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A new on-demand app to hail a taxi across the island has been launched by the States, with all taxi plate holders to be required to be signed up to an online booking service when their licences renew next January.
Traffic & Highway Services, a department of the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure, launched the service – called Guernsey Taxi App – following several months of work with the nascent Guernsey Taxi Drivers Association (GTDA).
It provides users a new way to spontaneously hire a taxi with a fare estimate, which will still be paid to drivers following a lift.
Pre-booking taxi services will need to be done directly through individual taxi companies, however.
E&I hope it will improve convenience for customers, increase business for the taxi industry, reduce changeover times between lifts, and ensure a better allocation of cars across the island at peak times.
Global company Taxicaller has been selected as the provider of the app, and the service can be downloaded from the Android and Apple app stores.
Pictured: Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, who has political responsibility for the taxi industry.
E&I President Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez said “there is strong customer demand from islanders and an expectation from visitors that this kind of app is available in Guernsey.
“The provision of a booking app for taxis is vital for the future of the sector,” she added.
Nicki Bessin, Head of the Guernsey Taxi Drivers Association, added: “As technology evolves, so does the way in which people interact & communicate in all walks of daily life. Taxi Apps have been successful in many other regions of the world, and it has been a growing requirement for the technology to be brought to us here."
She said it’s a good example of an improved working relationship between taxi drivers and the government: “By working together, we can take all viewpoints into consideration and produce a scheme which is suitable and reasonable for the majority."
The introduction of a taxi booking system accessible by app was a key recommendation of the independent Taxi and Private Hire Car Review, which was published last September.
E&I will therefore require all taxi drivers to be signed up to the government app, or a suitable third party online booking system, from January 2024 onwards.
Subscription fees to the app for the remainder of this year are being funded by the States, providing the driver signed up before July 2023.
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