Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1417412
7.10.2021 7 INTERVIEW Business wise, do you feel eCabs are over the worst of the pandemic? e pandemic hit us worse than most other sectors because our business thrives on mobility and connecting peo- ple; 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 inde- pendent survey ranked us as the lead- ing local ride-hailing service provider in Malta. is summer, we managed to exceed 2019 volumes (incidentally a record year) in a summer market that has seen a 75% drop in incoming tour- ism numbers. roughout 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. e indicators couldn't look any better. What do you attribute this post- pandemic success to? We stuck to our vision without allow- ing 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 circum- stances. e team's all hands-on-deck commitment, complemented by share- holders' determination to accelerate investment in technology was another factor. 17 months on, we are stronger than ever, with a much-improved prod- uct and a best-in-class fully-owned mo- bility 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 sail- ors. Covid made us bring the best in us all both emotionally and commercially. From an HR perspective, the new nor- mal ushered in a new breed of deter- mined 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 be- havioural patterns, so we expect to see the same positive tourism numbers throughout the rest of Q4. Locally, de- creases in costs and subsequently in pricing have driven further adoption of our service. We are committed to re- main the ride-hailing service with the shortest waiting time at the best prices, as we strive to reflect these optimiza- tions on customer prices. e 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 organisation? eCabs today is a mobility product and technology company employing over 50 technologists with 10 nationalities in 5 different countries. e number increased substantially over the past 17 months and will be exponentially grow- ing 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 mo- bility 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 automa- tion. is 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 part- ner drivers using Eco vehicles by giving financial incentives, so they keep invest- ing in green vehicles. We have added three fully-electric cabs to our existing hybrids, as part of a pilot project to as- sess industry adaptability and feasibili- ty. 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. e 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'? e 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 part- ner drivers, who go through a rigorous onboarding process to be allowed to of- fer 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 al- ways worked within the parameters of the regulatory framework. is took long and it was only in October 2020, following a period of consultation, that the new regulations for "Light Passen- ger Transport Services" were launched. is regularized the position of all partner drivers. We started onboard- ing partner drivers and in a matter of months our success was beyond ex- pectations, 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 ser- vice to our joint client-base. What other milestones have defined eCabs' operations over the past year? e past year was all about technolo- gy. We launched our own very success- ful and advanced in-App-based loyalty scheme eCabs Circle, whilst re-building and enhancing our own App with mul- tiple iterations. Most of our new tech made our system more robust and scal- able and led to the new partner driver platform which was inexistent. e fu- ture should bring us more technology to keep on reinventing the next mobility game-changer. "eCabs registered record numbers throughout the summer months, defying the general economic and tourism downward trends. is success boils down to strategic focus and an incessant investment in people and technology," says eCabs CEO Matthew Bezzina eCabs sees record growth in 2021