Why am I writing about Taxify? Well, I am a WordPress developer and I love to learn from others and other businesses. Using Taxify was a good learning experience for me as a freelance developer. I was aware about Taxify and all the buzz it was making, but had never used it before. Prior to using Taxify, I was a loyal Uber user.
Heading to Airport from Sydney City
On 25th Jan 2018, at around 5pm, I had to reach Sydney Domestic Airport from city after finishing my work. Unfortunately, it was the day when Sydney City Rail was on strike. As expected there was surcharge for using Uber. I didn’t have any clue about how much surcharge it was and for that reason I was bit unhappy. I estimated it to be around twice the normal rate. As a loyal Uber customer I waited for the price to drop down but sadly it never did.
Then, I thought to give Taxify a chance. Quickly I downloaded the app and opened it. As per my guess I had to add payment details to use Taxify. Contrary to my expectation and to my surprise, the estimate was far less than that quoted by Uber. Bang on! Excellent first impressions. I used Taxify and got dropped at airport. To be precise, the amount quoted by Uber was above $40 on surge price. On the other hand, Taxify charged me just $19.25 for dropping me at the airport. I had 25% discount for using the App at that time.
Cancelled Trip at Domestic Airport
After arriving in Sydney on 28 Jan, the only thing in my mind was to give Taxify a go. I did but this time I was disappointed. I was expected to be picked up at Priority zone but that wasn’t the case. The map suggested me to be at the Terminal 2. The cab did arrive at the destination. But the only problem was that I was waiting at the Ground Floor and it came at another level. By the time I was there, the taxi had left. I was charged more than $10 fort that which included $4 as an airport fee.
There are few things that I have noticed. One of them is the communication and phone signal was terrible. I could barely understand what the driver was speaking during communication. Did I mind? To be honest, yes a little bit. But again, I didn’t mind that much in rush. I actually accepted it and also remembered the savings I had made earlier. So overall I wasn’t pissed off that much.
Overall thoughts
At the time of using Taxify, I thought fare was reasonable and I did make some savings too. In cases where it’s hard to locate the passengers like at airports, I would avoid using the app. But that is my personal opinion. And, I am sure this will be improved in future.
For customers, it’s good that Uber is getting a challenge now. In long run, we as consumers will be the winner, when it’s a competitive market and not a single monopoly.
Will I use the app again? Definitely. But only in cases where there won’t be any issues locating user, I will use the app. Personally, being a developer myself I know how app development works. The app is relatively new and there are some flaws during its early release. I just hope this will improve over time.
Disclaimer: This is just an honest review based on experience. I will update if any changes are confirmed.