Taxi Driver Online

Never read anything like this before

But this is a bit more advertorial in tone than the usual stuff in this genre. And as well as the marketing pitch to potential customers, this is probably more pitched in the direction of recruitment than the norm as well...


Women-led taxi service launches on Teesside - creating jobs around mums' busy schedules

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... e-33522678

Martyna Kalarikkal, 26, founded Monroe, which currently has eight female drivers and is looking for more cabbies to serve the Teesside area

A new women-led taxi service has launched on Teesside. Monroe says its mission is to increase the number of female cabbies in the region while creating jobs for mums that will fit around their busy schedules.

https://i2-prod.gazettelive.co.uk/artic ... WA0035.jpg
Image: Monroe/Gazette Live

Launched by Martyna Kalarikkal, Monroe is operating under licences granted by Middlesbrough Council and Stockton Council and currently has eight female drivers. The 26-year-old Teessider says she also wanted to reduce anxiety for women getting a taxi home after a night out - while also catering for male customers too.

Martyna said: "I founded Monroe because I wanted to change two things; firstly, the perception that taxi driving is a job primarily for men. There are so many women who would benefit from flexible working hours and financial independence, but the industry hasn’t always felt accessible to them. I want Monroe to show that women absolutely belong in this space and can thrive as licensed drivers.

"Secondly, and just as importantly, I wanted to address the anxiety many women feel when getting a taxi home — especially at night. I’ve spoken to women who have had uncomfortable or frightening experiences in the past. For some, including those who have experienced domestic abuse, stepping into a taxi can bring genuine fear. Monroe was created to remove that uncertainty."

She added: "By building a network of female drivers, we aim to provide reassurance and peace of mind for women across Teesside who would feel more at ease with a female driver. At the same time, our service is for everyone - women and men - and our priority is always safety, professionalism and reliability. My goal is simple: to make getting home feel safer, and to create real opportunities for more women to enter and succeed in the private hire industry."

Martyna says nationally, women make up just 5% of taxi and private hire drivers in the UK. The Middlesbrough-based company believes taxi driving offers a flexible and rewarding career path, particularly for mothers and women seeking improved work-life balance.

The company, partnered with the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner and part of the Business Against the Abuse Scheme, is recruiting drivers to join the team. Martyna said: "Women interested in flexible, supportive employment are strongly encouraged to apply and be part of a service designed to make a positive local impact. Customers can book journeys easily by downloading the Monroe Cars app.

"Due to the current number of drivers, customers are encouraged to pre-book journeys where possible via the app, although bookings are welcomed at any time."

Don't want to sound picky , but the usual 'creating jobs' spiel is as usual inconsistent with the self-employment thing, which is specifically stated on their website.

On the other hand, it makes it sound like the women won't even be charged a fee, and will be driving their own cars, and can come and go as the please, so to that extent they'd be genuinely self-employed

But it all sounds a bit too good to be true. As, of course, a lot of this stuff normally does. Good luck to them, but my prediction is that it'll get nowhere very quickly (unlike the cars, maybe...), and will always be quite niche, at best.

Unless, of course, they change their business model...

As is often said, if it all sounds too good to be true, then it normally is

All that's just from the Become a Driver page

But if you look at the second section above in particular, it's pretty obvious that it's not just about the safety aspect, but because awful men just can't do anything right

And there's an element of that across the whole website...

Let's hope they don't come across some of those crazed and violent women passengers featured on here every so often. (Like the one yesterday who repeatedly punched the male driver and tried to strangle him with his seatbelt.)

Or the women in positions of power who can come across as bullying and abusing power, as opposed to being 'respectful'

And some obvious contradictions as well - who'd have expected that?




And there's lots of stuff about choosing your own hours etc, but the new driver questionnaire asks this:

Which suggests some kind of rota system at least. Which is quite common in terms of smaller platforms.

But which is hardly consistent with the self-employment thing. Assuming, of course, it was ever litigated...

In fact their job ads say drivers 'keep' 80% of fares, thus it's actually quite a high commission rate

https://scontent.fbrs3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69ADD9AC

https://scontent.fbrs3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69ADE4D7

But it all gives the obvious impression that the founders have been involved in the wider trade for some time, and it's not just some sort of micro-business start-up thing. I mean, they're already offering rental cars and the like, which doesn't seem typical for this sort of thing at this stage

https://scontent.fbrs3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69ADF24F

I wonder if they'll come across the likes of these young, er, 'ladies' in Dundee in later life?

But, aye, the reason 12-year-old girls are brandishing axes and knifes in Dundee is all because of those marauding-greasy-foreigner-wannabee-rapist types, innit?

(I shouldn't really be 'sharing' stuff like this on here, but the readership is minuscule compared to source here via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Not to mention the likes of Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk promoting uncensored images of 'Sophie of Dundee' to their zillions of followers.

But the Courier's being going to town on this Rebreak News source this week, and how they're glorifying violence and anti-social behaviour etc, particularly using uncensored videos of young teens etc.)

https://x.com/RebreakNews/status/2021276872139481464

This is the Courier's still image, as censored:

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 1x1152.jpg

Doomed to failure.

Just join a bigger firm.

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IDFIMH