FreeNow, the on-line hailing app that is currently transitioning into a London private hire operator, intends to allow users to access dock-less micro-mobility services such as electric bikes, e-mopeds and e-scooters through its app.
Free Now already has partnerships with third-party providers such as e-scooter sharing service Voi in some markets across Europe. Manager Niall Carson said they are now looking at providing something similar in Ireland.
If successful, they will be looking at expanding these news services in the jewel in the crown, London.
The news comes as Mr Carson said the company had enjoyed a strong run-up to Christmas, after seeing passenger numbers slump by as much as 86 per cent in April due to Covid restrictions.
He said Free Now is in talks with a number of third-party providers about the provision of new services on its platform, including a well-known car-sharing company.
Rebranding
Free Now recorded record turnover in Ireland of €22.2 million in 2019, up 30 per cent on the previous year. It also reported pretax losses of €2.9 million, however, up from €2.2 million in 2018 due to a big hike in expenditure related to it removing Taxi from its name by rebranding from MyTaxi to FreeNow.
“We carried over 20 million passengers in 2019, but this year the numbers are back considerably due to Covid, with our airport business in particular being badly hit.
During the run-up to Christmas we have been doing almost 250,000 rides a week, but I expect numbers to drop back to around 60 per cent year on year with the reimposition of level 5 restrictions,” said Mr Carson.
“We have had an unexpected level of new app downloads in December and also a huge number of new passengers started to use the app as they ventured out after the easing of restrictions,” he added.
The company faced criticism after rebranding for the third time locally but Mr Carson said that with the move away from Taxis, as more services were added to its platform the rebrand makes more sense.
“The reason why we opted to remove the word taxi from our name is because we are now essentially a mobility-as-a-service provider and I think that it is becoming clearer as we offer other travel options,” he said.
Free Now’s expansion comes as legislation to allow e-scooters on Irish roads is expected to be passed shortly.
“In terms of e-scooters, currently we are working with partners such as Voi in some European markets, for example Germany, in Ireland we are very open to work with partners and are in conversation with Irish-founded Zipp Mobility and Zeus eScooter” said Mr Carson.
“I think we’ll have more new passenger conversions as we come out of lockdown and as people begin to travel around much more,” said Mr Carson.
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