PERHAPS you just want to get to work because you’re late, or you just want to get home because you’re not feeling well or had a bad day. But the taxi driver just won’t stop talking or trying to engage you in conversation. The feelings can be overwhelming and, more so, irritating.

Book A Ride, the new talk of the town, promises that you’ll not have this and suchlike scenarios to deal with, once you download their app and give them a try. They’re big on training their drivers, Public Relations and Marketing Manager Jocelle Archibald shared with Pepperpot Magazine.

With the influx of tourists and oil executives pouring into the country at the moment, the management of ‘Book A Ride’ is cognisant of the fact that these individuals are accustomed to a certain level of service back at home, hence the need for training of the local drivers.

“We allow you to rate your driver. So, based on the ratings is how we’ll know if we should keep the driver. If you keep getting bad ratings, then we can’t keep you. We also provide training for the drivers on how to use the app; hospitality training, how to deal with customers if they’re having a bad day or don’t want to talk, and how to read the body language of your customer,” Archibald, a former news and radio personality explained.

Having been in the media for 15 years, things became too routine for Archibald. She found that she was doing the same thing every day. Wanting a challenge, and to do something different, she opted for marketing and public relations.

‘Book A Ride’ is just the kind of thing she wanted. “The first thing that we worked on is getting Guyanese to catch up with the world. We are here creating a culture shift in terms of how persons get transportation in Guyana. For the longest while, we have been picking up the phone to call a taxi. We are allowing persons to be more tech-savvy. So, if you want a car, you use an app to book your ride instead of calling a service.”

According to her, safety is the number one priority of ‘Book a Ride’. The safety aspect of the app is in fact making everybody gravitate towards it. “You get to see your driver, the licence plate of the car that’s coming for you, the type of car. You don’t have to wonder where your taxi is, or what it looks like. From the minute you book your ride, and it’s confirmed, you can track your driver.”

Female taxi drivers have also been tapping into Book A Ride because of the safety features. “We have a 24-hour monitoring system. We boast about our safety features. There’s a panic button on the app. If there’s any emergency while traveling in one of our cars, you hit that panic button and we’re going to get you help. So it’s not just you and the driver and god, we are monitoring you in case anything happens.”

The pricing is also very competitive, Archibald noted, as the ride would cost basically the same or even cheaper than those at regular taxi services.
“So far we have over 40 drivers, and we are looking for more drivers, especially those with their own cars. You don’t have to leave your base, you don’t have to leave your job. Once you have a hire care license, you can come off your 9 to 5 and start working for us right away,” Archibald pointed out.

A lot of people are excited about the new venture because everyone is on their smartphone right now. “The rest of the world is moving ahead and we are very behind,” Archibald observed.
So far, 2,000 persons have downloaded the app.