Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1153076
08.08.19 11 element of transparency, businesses will have better control over what employ- ees are spending on transport. e final invoice to the business each month will contain all the details of the trips the em- ployees took. What are the most common complaints your customer service receives? Our call centre leader provides me with a weekly report which illustrates the dis- tribution of customer service calls we re- ceived. e output from the call centres is one of the major indicators we rely on to de- velop and improve the service. e majority of calls we receive are re- quests for more information about the service and its pricing. We also receive operational calls, related to customers who encounter issues with the technology involved or with parking issues. In terms of technical issues, these are decreasing, as our users become more fa- miliar with the system. One of the most common issues relates to other drivers who park their personal cars in parking bays designated for GoTo vehicles. Part of the challenge the busi- ness is facing is the enforcement to keep GoTo's parking spaces free. If GoTo users find an illegally parked car in their slot, they should contact our call centre or message us on WhatsApp with a picture of the car's licence plate. We will immediately contact the police to track down the owner. We also contact the Local Enforcement System Agency (LESA). While this is hap- pening, we will direct the client to park the GoTo car to any other spot in the area, and one of our vehicle handlers will later retrieve the car and place it in the desig- nated bay once this is free. ere are currently fines associated with illegal parking in GoTo parking bays, and we are also pressing for such cars to be towed when they are parked in our bays. Enforcement will help address the culture issue connected with drivers not abiding by the parking regulations for our desig- nated bays. And, we're happy to learn that the gov- ernment will be rolling out a new legal framework shortly enabling enforce- ment authorities to tow away the illegally parked car, which should help address the problem. You operate in the transport industry. Traffic is a big problem in Malta, with an ever-increasing number of cars on the road, and lots of controversy surrounding projects to widen roads. What should be done to help solve the problems the country is facing in this regard, and do you feel the government is successfully addressing the situation? Malta needs a variety of alternatives to encourage people to ditch their car, or to not buy a car at all. is also applies to expats who move to Malta. ese usually opt not to buy a new car and go for a second-hand one, which generally have a worse environmental im- pact. erefore, we need to push people to not have their own personal vehicle, by offering alternatives. Do you feel GoTo is part of the solution? GoTo's mission is to provide a shared mobility solutions to the residents and visitors of Malta and Gozo. e GoTo service fits in with the nation- al plan to create different modes of trans- port and try to reduce the amount of car usage. How? With GoTo, people are sharing the same car, and this eventually reduces the num- ber of cars on the road, especially if peo- ple take a varied approach to mobility, such as using the bus and GoTo. Car sharing can also be used instead of a second family car, where a family might have one personal car, and use GoTo as a supplementary vehicle. On average, we estimate that – when taking into consideration our active users and the fact that some of these might be still using their personal car to a degree – each GoTo car results in 16 fewer private vehicles on the road. Another benefit of car sharing is the fi- nancial savings when using car sharing. T here are multiple expenses associated with buying a car, apart from the pur- chase cost, such as insurance, road li- cence, parking, fuel and servicing. One more cost, which people tend to oversee is depreciation in value. So, the aim is to extend the opportuni- ties for mobility around the island, lead- ing to less reliance on people's personal vehicle. Moreover, GoTo's eventual goal is to expand to every type of shared mobility. We are working with Transport Malta to understand what other types of mi- cro-mobility solutions we can add to our portfolio. Do you believe a culture change is needed in Malta in terms of Maltese people needing to move away from the mentality of constantly relying on their own means of transport, and being more open to services such as GoTo? From my experience of the sector in Is- rael, a change in culture will take a while. It will take time for people to appreciate alternative means of transport, and Malta has a very car-centric culture. ere has to be a shift in mentality for people to appreciate the evolution of an ecosystem where a personal car is not the only solu- tion. is culture change will hopefully be accelerated by the fact that many drivers encounter parking problems when using their personal vehicle. With GoTo, this is- sue is solved, because there are designat- ed parking spots for GoTo cars in every locality. Why did you choose to operate GoTo in Malta? e Maltese government offered an open call for companies to offer shared mobility solutions. We saw the potential and the need for alternative transport, and subsequently did our research and felt it would be an exciting opportunity to operate here. What are the challenges GoTo encounters operating as a business in Malta? I would mention two issues we tackled earlier – enforcement and the need for a change in culture. e approach to doing business in Malta is rather relaxed, and I feel this is a signif- icant challenge. Another issue is related to the servic- es' infrastructure, which is overloaded because the economy is doing so well. For instance, we have challenges when it comes to finding contractors to conduct the pavement trenching for the installa- tion of our charging stations at different locations. Could you mention something positive and something negative about your experience running the service in Malta? When it comes to the positive, I think the Maltese market has been welcom- ing. Moreover, local marketing is very centralised, which leads to a quicker acceleration in the adoption of a new initiative. A negative thing which comes to mind is the relatively narrow roads Malta has, because of its size. is presents different infrastructural challenges compared to those encountered in bigger cities abroad. But this is fine – we adapt and make it work. INTERVIEW gaining fans... and users