An innovation in the personal transportation business is the use of chauffeurs that drive people in their own cars, ordered through an app. Several apps dive in this specific service, like ‘Sjauf’. In this app, people can order a chauffeur to their current location or to a different location. Also can be indicated at what time the chauffeur is needed, this can be as quickly as possible but can also be at a point in the future. This service is valuable for people who are for example at a social event with alcoholic drinks, are tired after a long working day or want to work during the ride. The price setting works as follows: an app user indicates that he/she would like to make use of the service and sets a specific start location, destination and starting time. After this is registered on the app, it is visible for the other side of the platform, the chauffeurs. They are now able to bid on the job against their colleague drivers, where the driver with the lowest bid will win the bidding process and execute the job.
The app is at the moment still quite small, but is growing very rapidly. I think this business has ideal market opportunities, for many people don’t want to drink and drive or are so busy during certain periods so that they could really use the time in which they normally drive themselves. I can imagine driving to work on a Friday morning and being asked to join colleagues for a drink when the day is over. You still need your car the next morning for whatever reason so a Taxi home is not an option. Then this app is a solution, which could reduce the amount of people driving while being under the influence of alcohol. For students, this is an ideal job on the side because of their unregular availability and the ability to travel for free or with a discount on the public transport. The only part that somewhat worries me is the bidding process of the drivers against each other. I’m interested to hear what you think about this.
