South Africa: MY CABZ SetsThe Pace For Gauteng’s Metered-Taxi Revolution
By Novell Zwange – GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA – Premier metered taxi service provider, MY CABZ, has today announced the expansion of its world-class metered taxi service in the Gauteng Province. MY CABZ is a women-run empowerment company headed by young South African entrepreneur Sharon Tshabalala.
With the expansion of the MY CABZ luxury cab service, Gauteng is witnessing the introduction of a safe, reliable and professional metered-taxi service in the province.
In 2009, MY CABZ introduced the “premium metered taxi” business in Midrand. Following the exceptional consumer response to the MY CABZ cab service in Midrand and Pretoria, the company launched its taxi service to the whole province of Gauteng. The company is already servicing clients in all the three metropolitan areas of the province
and subsequently plans to launch into other provinces in South Africa making it the trusted operator of metered taxis in the country.
MY CABZ taxis will be dedicated for tourist passenger services for the domestic market, international airports and is also targeting the luxury train market. The metered taxis will not only cater to the demand of passengers commuting to and from the international airports, but will also become a viable extension to the country’s public transportation infrastructure by deploying reliable taxis for the market.
Speaking from the company’s Midrand Head Office this week, Sharon Tshabalala, CEO, of MY CABZ said, “We are in a unique position to expand our safe and reliable metered taxi business across Gauteng as we have gained tremendous experience in the demanding Gauteng market over the last year.”
“We have employed and further trained the best-in-class drivers to build the better delivery and customer care elements for this service. Our success in Gauteng is due to our strong emphasis on providing a professional, comfortable and affordable travel experience for our customers.”
“It’s the best thing we can do to improve the taxi industry,” she said, “and it takes a very big step.”
She added, “Our metered taxi service provides customers the opportunity to commute in a modern air-conditioned taxi, enabled by our online-based booking system. They can call for a taxi at our Call Centre and the booking enabling this service locates a cab nearest to the customer and dispatches it. The customers have a total assurance of reaching their destination safely and a printed receipt for each fare.”
Tshabalala attributed the phenomenal success of the MY CABZ brand in Gauteng to the company’s untiring efforts on selecting, training and deploying high quality drivers. “For all applying drivers screened. MY CABZ selects only the best ambassadors, demonstrating the rigor with which we build quality service delivery.”
She further added, “MY CABZ is modelled on the best cab services in the world like those in New York and London. Our endeavor will be to work with local governments in each province we enter to provide a world class taxi infrastructure. What private airlines have done to invigorate air travel in South Africa, MY CABZ intends to do with cab services.”
In February 2009, MY CABZ bagged a contract with one of the largest petroleum companies in Gauteng to provide its taxi services, to transport the oil giant’s executive both at the airport as well as within the province giving a jump start for the professional taxi operator in Gauteng, a province that previously did not have an existing professional taxi culture.
For years, the issue of ethical conduct and professionalism in the local metered-taxi has stirred controversy, resurfacing every year or so for debate. But this time, an industry player is applying the standards, instead of doing nothing about the rot that has crippled the metered-taxi business, Tshabalala is outspoken about the need to finally address the issue of ethics and a change of behavior in the metered-taxi industry.
She illustrated the inherent problems with the taxi system, “The visitors and passengers of the Gauteng province continually say they want clearly justifiable fares,” Tshabalala said. “They want a sense that overcharging is not occurring, and they want a clearer reconciliation between a fare, a service and the distance traveled.”
“Customers want improvements in an unprofessional metered-taxi system they found confusing and illogical. Making sense of the metered-taxi charges and keeping track of the metered distances traveled through has been a dizzying exercise for most customers.”
Every fare that MY CABZ collects is manually recorded as well as digitally recorded at the Control Centre for reference. Each cab has an official receipt book and a customer is given a printed receipt for the fare collected. MY CABZ has reasonable tariffs per each zoned distance as opposed to some meter systems that tend to rip the customers on shorter trips and confuse them on longer ones.
In order to deploy its metered taxi operations in Gauteng, MY CABZ has satisfied all the criteria laid down by the Government to be eligible to run public transport services. The cabs have passed the road worthy test which is independently conducted by the Department of Transport. MY CABZ vehicles are fully licensed by the Gauteng Operating Licensing Board (GOLB) to render the service, and the metered taxi company is currently the only operator endorsed by Firestone as a branding partner in the province.
Customers have multiple options available to get the MY CABZ cab service including contacting Call Centre on 0861 MY CABZ/ 0861 69 2229 or Emergency Call Centre Number 084 290 4646, or bysending an SMS or posting a web request at www.mycabz.co.za
Customers can also follow LoveMyCabz on Twitter, or they can like MY CABZ on Facebook. MY CABZ also offers an advance booking system which allows a customer to book a cab over the phone or on the net in advance at their desired location from anywhere within the province of Gauteng. Because the company seeks to proffer unrivaled metered-taxi services, customers can not hail and flag down a cab on the streets even if it is not occupied.
MY CABZ customer support services ensures that there is a responsive “Lost and Found” tracking system in place so that any item left behind inadvertently in a MY CABZ cab can be traced back to the owner(s) from the vehicle that a reporting customer would have used.
