South West residents now have the opportunity to take advantage of ride-sharing after a new app was launched which will target regional areas in Australia.
It was the lack of ride-sharing services in regional WA that prompted the Perth co-founders of Hi-Oscar, Daniel Broughton and Jeremy Webb, to start their company.
Mr Broughton said Hi-Oscar would enable people who use the app to choose which car and driver they would like to pick them up based on gender, customer reviews and needs.
He said people in the South West who were interested in becoming a driver for the ride-sharing service could register on the website hi-oscar.com.au.
But before drivers could register they would need to be licenced, have their vehicle checked and have comprehensive insurance.
Mr Broughton said the rate to use the service was identical to Uber X and should be around 40 to 60 per cent cheaper than a regular taxi service.
To use the service customers pay a minimum charge of $6 per trip with a base rate of $2.20, then 35 cents per minute and $1.10 per kilometre.
In WA, the regulated taxi service charges tariffs set by the state government. In the South West the tariffs are set on the time a taxi is booked and the number of people in a vehicle.
A four person taxi booked between 6am to 6pm Monday to Friday that went on a 15 kilometre journey would be charged $30.45.
Doing the same journey in a Hi-Oscar vehicle which took 12.5 minutes to complete a passenger would be charged $23.10 to travel the same distance.
Fore more details about the ride-sharing service visit hi-oscar.com.au/ or go to the Facebook page.
