Addison Lee’s private minicab app goes global


Addison Lee is trying to shake off its image as a London-focused taxi service and re-establish itself as a ride-hailing app that works around the world. Today, the company announced a "digital global service" that anyone can use to book minicabs in over 100 cities worldwide. In some locations, that will mean Addison-owned vehicles, but in others your trip will be handled by one of its 5,000 affiliate partners. Addison Lee, in short, wants to be the app that lives on your home screen — a reliable and convenient alternative to Uber, Lyft and similar taxi hire services.

It's a long-awaited expansion. Addison Lee bought executive car service Tristar in June 2016, boosting its affiliate network in the US and abroad. Seven months later, it acquired Flyte Tyme, a US car service business that offers airport transfers, event transportation, shuttle services and black car operations. It then snapped up Tandem, a booking and fleet management specialist, and revealed plans to launch a branded car service in New York. (Vehicles started rolling out in Manhattan late last year.) Addison's focus, clearly, is in North America and the UK — but with an affiliate network, it can scale up (or down) its business and dabble with a global user base.

As part of today's announcement, Addison Lee has committed £65 million ($90 million) to boosting its minicab fleet in London and the Big Apple. In the English capital, the company will introduce 1,300 Ford Galaxy people carriers, over 500 Mercedes vehicles, 30 Vauxhal Vivaro vans and 15 500cc Honda motorcycles. In New York, the expansion will include 350 Chrysler 300s, 150 Lincoln Continentals, 10 Cadillac Escalades, 10 Chevrolet Suburbans and 6 Grech Ford F-550 minibuses. It's a sizeable investment, but one that could prove meaningless if the app doesn't take off.

Source: Addison Lee

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2Dw75Ry"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more