A Bendigo taxi driver who uses a phone app to attract customers and bypass depot dispatch has said he was threatened with dismissal for encouraging passengers to download the app.
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The cabbie, who wished to remain anonymous, said he felt intimidated when Bendigo Taxis management asked him to stop promoting goCatch or risk losing his job.
He said he used the app because the local taxi network was “under the pump” in peak times, and goCatch meant customers whose calls weren’t answered could contact a driver directly.
He said customers were turning away from traditional taxis because of long wait times.
“I cop a lot of abuse on the weekend,” he said. “Mainly things like, ‘Man, I’ve waited 40 minutes on the phone’.”
He also said the app allowed drivers struggling to find work to still pick up fares.
“The other week our systems went offline for just over an hour, and four or five of us were out on goCatch and still managed to get work,” he said.
The taxi driver said the app worried his bosses because it meant the booking fee usually collected by the taxi cooperative was instead going to goCatch.
Bendigo Taxis manager Colin Wells denied the driver had been intimidated, saying his workers were entitled to use the app.
But he took issue with them directing customers away from the official dispatch system while they were on the clock.
Although the Taxi Services Commission had approved goCatch, Mr Wells was concerned jobs requested via the app could not be tracked and might leave customers stranded.
He said he feared the app would create a “two-tier system” of passengers: those who had access to the app, and those who did not.
“The little old lady who’s never seen the app should be just as likely to get her taxi,” he said.
He said the app offered drivers “inducements”, with a function that allowed customers to tip the driver, and this meant some cabbies were bypassing dispatch jobs for more lucrative fares.
“I had a guy who knocked back three jobs that were within 300 metres of him to go five kilometres and get this work via goCatch,” he said.
“There’s got to be some backdoor payments happening somewhere, and I don’t like when things are hidden like that.”
GoCatch was contacted for comment.