REBECCA BATS
The Australian owned booking app offers customers the option to book a taxi or a rideshare on their phone with the ridesharing option being similar to the concept of Uber.
The app is set to rival Uber, Lyft and Backseat, with large investors including James Packer supporting the service.
GoCatch started in 2011 and aimed to use technology to make vehicle booking an easy experience.
Senior Account Manager for GoCatch, Lauren Trucksess says GoCatch aims for taxis and rideshares to coincide.
‘We believe that ridesharing and traditional taxis can and should coexist as they both meet passengers needs in different ways. To us, one isn’t necessarily better than the other’ she said.
Ms Trucksess says early signs are showing that there’s a lot of demand for ride share services in Queensland.
‘We had hundreds of drivers sign up in the first week for the Brisbane area and we’ve had a lot of interest from other parts of Southeast Queensland including the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.’
Taxi drivers were today rallying outside of Brisbane’s Parliament House in retaliation to the controversial legalisation of ride-sharing like Uber.
The GoCatch app aims to support taxi drivers as well as rideshare drivers.
There is concern amongst taxi companies that Uber could hold a monopoly on the ridesharing market and GoCatch aims to shrink this possibility.
‘By launching ridesharing alongside our taxi offering, we can make sure that passengers and drivers get a fair go’ she said.
