Born in June 2009 from an idea of Niclaus Mewes and Sven Külper, mytaxi is today a reference point for those who decide to book a taxi quickly and efficiently. The company, which renewed the sector on an international level, has also recently landed in Rome, where it operates in the coworking space of Talent Garden Poste Italiane. That’s what they told us.
1. How did the idea of mytaxi originate?
The idea of mytaxi stems from creating a direct connection between the driver and the passenger, as to provide both an efficient reservation management system and a high quality service. Since September 2014, mytaxi is a subsidiary of Daimler AG; this acquisition was a major step forward for mytaxi to become the leading European app for taxi calls. The merger of mytaxi and Hailo, the English app for taxi booking, was moreover announced in July 2016, thus becoming, together, the largest company in Europe for taxi calls through an app, with over 70 million passengers and 100,000 registered taxi drivers in 54 cities in 9 countries.
2. Which are the advantages of using mytaxi compared to a traditional taxi?
mytaxi innovated the taxi booking making it completely different from the past: today via app you can monitor in real time the arrival of the taxi and you can know the name of the taxi driver or get in touch with him. mytaxi greatly facilitates the customers not only from a technological point of view, but also from an economic one, often offering promotions or referral programs. The app tariffs are those resulting from the local taximeter, while promotions work in this way: the driver perceives the amount resulting from the taximeter, the customer, during the promotional period, pays the required amount while mytaxi, as an investment to promote the service, pays the difference. mytaxi changed, therefore, the world of non-scheduled transportation bringing it closer to all those users that have made the smartphone the digital extension of their hand.
3. Why someone should use mytaxi instead of Uber?
mytaxi works exclusively with licensed taxi drivers, not private. Taxi drivers who work for mytaxi receive a one-to-one training before becoming operational, and this provides users with an efficient and safe service. mytaxi works in the cities where it operates within the law, therefore always being compliant with regulations and municipal tariffs. To operate in Italy, for example, it opened the company mytaxi Italia srl, which is subject to Italian taxation, and has regularly hired local staff.
4. Which are the advantages for an international company like yours of operating in a coworkig space?
Operating in a coworking space means constantly coming into contact with new stimuli, suggestions and ideas. The most interesting aspect is to work alongside organizations from different sectors, finding possible synergies and collaborations.
5. Which are your short-term goals?
First of all, mytaxi aims to consolidate its service in the two Italian cities where it operates, Rome and Milan, increasing the number of taxi drivers as to become even more widespread on the territory. Another important goal is to increase the user base, already very wide, through a quality service that is also efficient, transparent, easy and convenient to use.