eCabs’ CEO, Matthew Bezzina, met The Malta Business Weekly for an insight into how the company’s business has changed since the onset of the pandemic, and the way forward from here.

 

“eCabs registered record numbers throughout the summer months, defying the general economic and tourism downward trends. This success boils down to strategic focus and an incessant investment in people and technology,” says eCabs CEO Matthew Bezzina. 

 

Business wise, do you feel eCabs are over the worst of the pandemic hit? 

The pandemic hit us worse than most other sectors because our business thrives on mobility and connecting people; two elements decimated through social distancing restrictions. But we believed the crisis was temporary and we bounced back, gaining tremendous growth and market share. An independent survey ranked us as the leading local ride-hailing service provider in Malta. This summer, we managed to exceed 2019 volumes (incidentally a record year) in a summer market that has seen a 75% drop in incoming tourism numbers. Throughout Covid, the team showed impressive stamina and commitment, and we are now reaping the benefits of all that hard work with healthy double-digit growth over the best year the company has ever had. The indicators couldn’t look any better. 

 

What do you attribute this post-pandemic success to? 

We stuck to our vision without allowing the pandemic to disrupt us and we amplified our focus on every tactical decision, optimised costs, tapped into new sources of business, and ensured we kept adapting to evolving circumstances. The team’s all hands-on-deck commitment, complemented by shareholders’ determination to accelerate investment in technology was another factor. 17 months on, we are stronger than ever, with a much-improved product and a best-in-class fully-owned mobility tech platform used daily by over 800 partner drivers with a consistent growth of 5-star customer rating. 

 

What do you think of the new normal? 

Smooth seas never bred skilled sailors. Covid made us bring the best in us all both emotionally and commercially. From an HR perspective, the new normal ushered in a new breed of determined team members and today, we are together stronger, grittier, faster and more motivated. Of course, there was collateral damage but we also learnt some great positive lessons.  

 

What are your predictions for the coming months? 

From a business and market share perspective we are expecting the same growth patterns of the last quarter. Covid has readjusted travel and behavioural patterns, so we expect to see the same positive tourism numbers throughout the rest of Q4. Locally, decreases in costs and subsequently in pricing have driven further adoption of our service. We are committed to remain the ride-hailing service with the shortest waiting time at the best prices, as we strive to reflect these optimizations on customer prices. The medium term is looking even better as mobility grows but we are excited by our north star: the internationalization of our technology operations into multiple regions as of next year. 

 

eCabs has been increasingly focusing on the technology side of business. Does this now define the organization?  

eCabs today is a mobility product and technology company employing over 50 technologists with 10 nationalities in 5 different countries. The number increased substantially over the past 17 months and will be exponentially growing in the medium to long term as we continue building our fully IP-owned tech platform drawing upon 11 years of invaluable experience operating in one of the world’s most dense road networks. We see the future in our mobility business as one that is defined by data aggregation and machine learning, to enable machine-made decisions at speed and scale as well as exponential improvements and product automation. This level of intensive optimisation will enable us to be always faster and cheaper, without ever compromising on service levels. 

 

As the concept of sustainability increasingly dominates the agenda, where are you at with your project launched earlier this year to operate a fully Eco-friendly fleet by 2025? Is this project really feasible? 

To date, our Eco cab category in our app allows clients the option to order Eco vehicles. We also added 120 partner drivers using Eco vehicles by giving financial incentives, so they keep investing in green vehicles. We have added three fully-electric cabs to our existing hybrids, as part of a pilot project to assess industry adaptability and feasibility. We need government to invest more in the right charging infrastructure and to incentivize fleet-conversion. We also need constant communication with all stakeholders, especially government and regulators, to design incentives for partner drivers and fleet operators to shift to cleaner vehicles. The project is as feasible as all the stakeholders make it.  

 

eCabs currently operates with over 800 partner drivers. Why do you call them ‘partner drivers’?  

The term ‘partner driver’ replaced the industry term ‘self-employed driver’ and reflects the relationship we want to have with our drivers. Our partner drivers are crucial stakeholders just like our clients. Although our group owns a fleet, many other fleets work on our platform. Today, the majority of trips are fulfilled by our growing list of partner drivers, who go through a rigorous onboarding process to be allowed to offer our service. We nurture consistent and open communication with all our partners because this is the only way a sustainable industry can thrive. 

 

What kept you back from implementing the partner driver model before? 

Unlike others in the market, we always worked within the parameters of the regulatory framework. This took long and it was only in October 2020, following a period of consultation, that the new regulations for “Light Passenger Transport Services” were launched. This regularized the position of all partner drivers. We started onboarding partner drivers and in a matter of months our success was beyond expectations, a success that is due to our approach where partner drivers are not considered as numbers, but business partners who invested in their vehicle and want to provide an exceptional service to our joint client-base. 

 

What other milestones have defined eCabs’ operations over the past year?   

The past year was all about technology. We launched our own very successful and advanced in-App-based loyalty scheme eCabs Circle, whilst re-building and enhancing our own App with multiple iterations. Most of our new tech made our system more robust and scalable and led to the new partner driver platform which was inexistent. The future should bring us more technology to keep on reinventing the next mobility game-changer. 

 

Read the article:

https://maltabusinessweekly-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/maltabusinessweekly.com/record-growth-and-innovation-at-ecabs/16009/amp/

 

 

The partnership is a first step towards the internationalisation of eCabs’ technology.

 

The founders of eCabs and M-TRIBES, a Germany-based software provider for mobility and logistics businesses recently announced to extend their technology partnership and offer a unique bundle of ride-hailing and delivery software and services in Europe and Northern Africa.

 

Following their collaboration on creating FastDrop, eCabs’ last-mile delivery-as-a-service platform, the two companies will optimize the utilization of their workforce and assets to market eCabs’ fully IP-owned ride-hailing platform, as well as the joint FastDrop delivery technology.

 

Whereas M‑TRIBES is planning to refocus its ambitions in the ride-hailing segment to resell the eCabs technology, FastDrop by eCabs becomes M‑TRIBES principal business partner for product and business development in the Last and Middle Mile Delivery category.

 

“The last mile segment has long been in our sights. Back in 2019, we tested the market and quickly validated our hypothesis on the opportunities that existed. Our partnership with M-TRIBES enabled us to fast track the deployment of FastDrop. Now this relationship has grown to combine our joint expertise in transport software and operations to power independent operators in both spaces of ride hailing and last mile within the EMEA region, and help to expand their business”, explained the eCabs CEO Matthew Bezzina.

 

For eCabs the extended partnership marks an important step forward on its journey defined by the experience of providing ride-hailing operations for more than 11 years, as well as intelligent investments that have enabled the Malta-based operator to defend the market-leader position in the highly competitive ride-hailing space within the region. Having built a powerful technology setup that has been tested in the road dense local market, eCabs is now taking a bold step on the path of going international, with an integrated mobility solution.

 

eCabs has been working since 2020 with M-TRIBES as part of its long-term vision to move into 3rd party logistics, with the launch of FastDrop to specifically service the last mile and middle mile segment in Malta. FastDrop is poised to overhaul the local last mile market through B2B partnerships, with the aim of bridging the gap and improving last mile services and consumer communications, with timely and well communicated delivery in the local and foreign eCommerce space.

 

A fruitful business relationship quickly emerged after the companies started collaborating at the height of the pandemic. To develop the FastDrop platform, like-minded professionals from both companies in the field of product development and technology worked on the existing and powerful M-Tribes platform M-TOOLS, enhancing it through the added operational expertise that eCabs boasts.

 

M‑TRIBES founding partners Patrick Arle and Marian-Maximilian Martens recently met with eCabs founding partners Matthew Bezzina and Dr.Andrew Bezzina in Malta, to discuss details of the MOU.

 

Matthew Bezzina, eCabs CEO concludes, “The synergies between M‑TRIBES and eCabs are strongly rooted in a great personal understanding as well as a technology first culture. This is an important step for us in that we can look at accelerating our international aspirations to see our ride hailing technology landing in other large and respectable European markets, whilst we keep on investing in the FastDrop product to build it into an unrivalled brand. The more we look overseas, the more we see exciting opportunities that are there for the taking. We are very excited by the prospects that this great understanding with Patrick, Marian and the M‑TRIBES team brings with it”.

 

In order to exploit the full potential of their partnership an understanding between the two organizations has grown such that eCabs and M‑TRIBES are investing on two new areas of their collaboration. Whereas M‑TRIBES is planning to refocus its ambitions in the ride-hailing segment to resell the eCabs technology, FastDrop by eCabs becomes M‑TRIBES principal business partner for product and business development in the Last and Middle Mile Delivery category.

 

M-TRIBES CEO, Patrick Arle highlights the like mindedness in both aspirations and work ethic the companies share. “We are very excited to be expanding our partnership with eCabs. Our companies have developed a mutual understanding on many levels and we both share the belief that the combination of our offering fits like a glove to the needs of independent operators.”

 

“Together with eCabs we now look forward to build bigger international opportunities quicker than we both could have before. Wrapping up our offering of ride-hailing and delivery technology will enable local and independent operators to thrive in times of massive change in the transportation industry.”

 

Read more:

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/ecabs-sign-agreement-with-germany-based-m-tribes

https://whoswho.mt/en/ecabs-sign-agreement-with-germany-based-software-provider-m-tribes 

https://mediterranean.observer/malta-ecabs-sign-agreement-with-germany-based-outfit-m-tribes

 

eCabs has launched four new cab categories within its mobile App to help customers make better and easier choices and improve the user experience when booking their mobility requirements.

The four options – Eco, Pets, Booster Seat and Assist – are set to contribute to an even safer and more comfortable customer experience, within a faster and simpler booking process through the App, or all other booking channels.

In line with eCabs’ ambitious electric vehicles project, customers may now easily opt for a 100% electric or hybrid vehicle through the Eco option within the App; they can also book a cab with a booster seat for their little travellers or opt for eCabs Assist whenever they need a little extra help and special assistance from trained drivers, in line with eCabs’ Passenger Safety Charter standards.

A cab may also be easily ordered for clients wishing to travel with their pets – whilst eCabs has been pet friendly for over 5 years, the in-App experience and booking flow has now been much improved.

“These new categories aim at providing more personalisation that offers a safer, more reliable and pleasant user experience. Our design and development team is consistently hard at work to improve our product offering for a more intuitive and seamless user experience,” says Simon Debono, eCabs’ Chief Officer for Marketing and Business Development.

This move follows eCabs’ recently announced project that will see it run entirely on green vehicles by 2025 and builds on its commitment to offer more choice with their growing number of partner drivers which can be booked through the eCabs Go category in-App. Partner drivers are also incentivised to go Green through more favourable terms.

“These four new categories define the eCabs brand as a more sustainable and all-inclusive one, which seeks to constantly improve the customer experience. This is one of many more improvements that we will be seeing this year as we keep on consolidating our platform in preparation for our long-term ambitions,” concluded Simon Debono.

 

Read more:

https://newsbook.com.mt/en/ecabs-service-becomes-even-safer-more-personal/

Mobility company eCabs is embarking on an ambitious project that will see it run entirely on green vehicles by 2025. The initiative was announced by eCabs CEO Matthew Bezzina in the presence of Minister for Energy, Enterprise, and Sustainable Development Miriam Dalli.

 

Minister Dalli welcomed this investment as a strong signal by the private sector that wants to be part of the Government’s vision to decarbonise the economy by 2050.

 

“The private sector will find the Government on its side in its transition towards a more sustainable economy. My Ministry, together with other government entities, is working hard on a holistic strategy that will help encourage the take up of zero and low-emission vehicles,” Dr Dalli said.

 

She explained that a further take up by the private sector will help Malta reach its targets. “We can only reach our national targets if everyone is onboard. The Government is doing its part to encourage and facilitate the use of methods that are less harmful towards the environment, both financially and logistically,” the Minister said.

 

On his part, Mr Bezzina welcomed the commitment from Government adding: “The project to electrify our whole fleet and install all the required infrastructure will mean a significant investment by eCabs, which does require equal commitment from Government to ensure that the infrastructure to support electric mobility be implemented. This support given to this vision is welcome and encouraging”.

 

The electrification process has started with the launch of a number of fully electric vehicles including models from KIA, Hyundai and Citroen that join the existing hybrid vehicles in the eCabs fleet.

 

Mr. Bezzina continued that positives could be taken from the sacrifices all had to endure in 2020, “The restrictions during last year’s lockdown sent our industry into a spiral, but on a more positive note less traffic meant reduced air pollution and cleaner air for everyone. The country although eerily deserted, was more liveable than it was for ages. This strengthened our resolve to cement our ongoing vision towards becoming even more sustainable and inspired our eCabs Greener Future initiative,” stated Matthew Bezzina.

 

“We are seeking more sustainable and cleaner operations in everything we are doing, including the future development of our owned spaces as well as a sustainable framework which includes incentivising and supporting our partner drivers to follow in these footsteps,” added Mr. Bezzina.

 

Concurrently and in support to this commitment, eCabs will also be launching a scheme to incentivise its partner drivers to invest in EVs or Hybrids including an improved financial model and other frameworks.

 

eCabs officially launched its Partner Drivers initiative late last year following the Public Service Garage reform concluded and launched by Government. The initiative offers self-employed drivers the opportunity to work for Malta’s leading home-grown mobility provider non-exclusively, essentially allowing drivers to increase their revenue stream possibilities, much needed in these troubling times.

 

Read more:

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/ecabs-fleet-to-turn-green-by-2025

https://whoswho.mt/en/ecabs-on-the-path-to-be-100-green-by-2025

https://lovinmalta.com/news/ecabs-launches-ambitious-plan-to-go-100-green-by-2025/ 

https://bay.com.mt/ecabs-on-the-path-to-be-100-green-by-2025/