Pedal Me pushes forward with its on-demand taxi service powered by bike

by Startacus Admin
With London perhaps saying goodbye to Uber, the city is going to need a new alternative to black cabs, if only for the sake of choice.
(We of course appreciate too that there are other Uber like taxi-hailing services in London - which you can still use).
Walking is cheaper, of course, but London is big, busy, and everyone is always in a rush. So what is faster than walking but capable of avoiding the traffic jams plaguing the city’s roads to get people to work in time? Bicycles!
Step forward (wrong choice of words perhaps!) Pedal Me an on-demand taxi service powered by pedals and leg muscle.
Like a normal taxi service, a bike can be booked ahead of time or when you need it, and it normally operates within a 5-mile radius of Waterloo Bridge. Book by phone, social media, or the free app, and one of the hand-picked, well-trained riders will pick you up and cycle you, past the angry drivers cursing the traffic, to your destination for no more than you would pay any other taxi service. They even have storm umbrellas and waterproof blankets to keep you dry in the London weather.
Riders themselves are employed on zero-hour contracts, part-time, or full-time, with a 20% commission rate. After working 100 hours, they are given a share in the company, and every employee has the opportunity to progress from the bikes to another area within the company.
London is the UK’s largest city, with close to 10 million people milling about and clogging up the roads. Those roads are in a near-perpetual state of congestion, meaning that there is more than enough reason for a taxi service that doesn’t add to this congestion, but is able to take its passengers around it and to their destination in a fraction of the time a car or public transport could.
And the lack of pollution is a welcome bonus!
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Published on: 15th October 2017
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