Taxi Driver Online

Mini-cab rival in the taxi ranks

MELBOURNE is set to get a London mini-cab-style competitor to the taxi industry, under a plan by a new Sydney operation that aims to steal a slice of Australia's pre-booked taxi market.

Towncars, which has financial backing from Myer chief Bernie Brookes, plans to expand from Sydney to Melbourne within months and is confident of securing a Victorian partner for its franchise.

While the cars will not be able to wait at taxi ranks, or be hailed from the street, the business is designed to compete for big corporate clients who need to ferry staff home late at night or to and from the airport. Individual clients are also catered for.

The business has been set up by former Howard government MP Ross Cameron and his one-time driver Danny Breen. They hope to lure customers from taxis and the Cabcharge system that charges passengers a 10 per cent service fee for each payment, and become ''the Bunnings of hire car services''.

The Towncars dispatch system is running on a TollFast program designed for freight management. TollFast general manger Tony Mellick said his company had also begun to rely on Towncars after hours, for work such as spare parts for urgent IT jobs.

Mr Brookes declined an interview, but said Towncars was an effective and efficient operation, with a robust business plan ''that is proving to be most successful'' in Sydney. He hoped it would become a ''significant player'' in the industry.

The company also aims to cut costs for businesses by reducing travel rorts. Each Towncar is tracked by GPS and companies are offered the ability to view their account online - including a map of where and when an employee was picked up and dropped off.

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