I asked myself that question repeatedly for a number of years! I am the Operator of a small independent private hire company. We were super busy and had loyal clients who returned time and time again. But the profit was elusive. Like sand running through your fingers, profit was impossible to grab hold of. Continually eaten up by garage fees, insurance, tyre replacements, airport parking, private hire licensing and tests. you name it, profit continually got swiped by the oncosts.

Where is the profit?

Have you ever considered how large fleets make money easily and continually grow and yet the small business, the private independent operator, the ‘salt of the earth’, the caring, service driven Independent private hire business just seems to ‘exist’? Honestly – its bad! - at the end of each year I used to think to myself. ‘Where are the savings’…?
• to upgrade the cars?
• As a bonus for the 24/7 workload?
• to ensure a cash flow buffer in the following year?

Here’s the problem; VOLUME, VISIBILITY, VARIATION

Well, it isn’t rocket science but for the record lets lay it out in black and white here. Independent private hire operators constantly live with inefficiency. This is a weakness directly related to their small size of capacity and demand on a daily basis. There are three big factors that create that inefficiency-.

1.Independent private hire miss having a critical mass of VOLUME of journeys.
Why does that matter?
Because the more journeys out and back where both legs of the journey have a fare paying passenger, means suddenly there is profit.
2. Independent private hire miss having VISIBILITY of activity.
Why does that matter?
Because if everyone can see the activity and whereabouts of others then solutions to problems can be found quickly and easily.
3. Independent private hire has a culture that has issues with sharing – core to this is the VARIATION of recording and approaches to bookings management.
Why does that matter?
Because when information is shared, to prevent mistakes, it needs to be correct, prompt and GDPR protected.

Why do local small operators matter? Should we care?

The answer is a RESOUNDING YES! Independent private hire is a TRUSTED, PEOPLE industry embedded into the local community. The aim is quality, service, safety. And hours are spent in the car with passengers on journeys. That means the quality of the drive, matters. The congeniality of the driver, matters. The adaptability, flexibility and management of the journey to get the service right, matters. So yes, local operators and chauffeurs DO matter.

The real question is how you make local Independent Private Hire VIABLE. How DO you maximise profitability for Driver-Operators who work on comparatively low volume levels?

It’s time for a paradigm shift

In the 21st century we should ALL be using technology to problem solve. But until now there has been no I.T. ‘whiz’ that has understood the problems of the Independent Operator, nor the human essence of the job. The result? Their interest has been in the linear benefit – platforms and apps have focused on ‘selling more’, increasing revenue through increasing footfall with marketing, or apps targeted at the customer. These greater quantity of bookings helps the matchmaking of trips to maximise back-runs. We have therefore increasingly seen, the growth of the big, centralised call centres or apps where the power is all in the hands of the despatchers, the app or the passenger. It’s a numbers game. A central coordinator with a plethora of ‘go-do’ drivers all competing for the best drives.

This is what we have seen across the last decade. Sadly, one where the Independent chauffeur-operators and drivers have devolved power, for instance giving large commissions away in return for jobs, whose wages are shrunk so working longer hours driving to make ends meet.

Result? The regional chauffeur/operators – remain with the problem of not having a way to generate efficiency if they want to stay small.

Problem solving to find The Solution

We entered the industry as a small Independent Private Hire Chauffeur-Operator Business nearly ten years ago and learnt the hard way. However, we also arrived with multiple decades between us of careers in global corporates and backgrounds in Innovation, problem-solving and programme management of getting new ideas and technology developed and adopted.

What we realised was that whatever the size of business; small v large, micro v macro, David v Goliath – the key is efficiency, and it was all about CREATING efficiency for the Independent Operator: The greater the number of journeys, the more likely that route-optimisation and the ‘holy grail’ of the ‘back-run’ would be realised. But, we had to do this whilst keeping – in fact whilst enhancing - Independent Operator status.

What did we want?

We wanted a brand-new way of working and we set ourselves the task to change everything into the favour of the Independents, because until now NO ONE had taken that view or perspective of the value that the independents across the UK bring to clients or communities.

The New Way of Working…

We saw ‘The 3 V’s’ - VOLUME, VISIBILITY and VARIATION - as the 3 key weaknesses to turn into strengths, whilst staying INDEPENDENT. Plus, the added magic ingredients of CONNECTION and COLLABORATION were needed…

BACKRUNS® BOOKINGS with BENEFITS: The Solution

There is now the opportunity for Independent Private Hire Operators with their drivers to adopt the new system that provides the solution to the 3V’s that until now have blocked true profitability when your business is small. Continue to work independently? YES...AND... now also connected which leads to supporting one another, in a trusted Circle network of local Operators and Drivers. Through the BACKRUNS® booking platform Independent Operators are now connected collaboratively together in their created CIRCLE – bringing local bookings management together with the opportunity to perform as a FLEET.

Interested? Register with BACKRUNS® and see for yourself

The first Bournemouth CIRCLE consisting of two operators and 5 drivers has proven the value of collaboration to All:- to the Operators, Drivers and their passengers. Operators can manage conflict bookings in seconds; See back-run opportunities and act on them, in seconds. And to join BACKRUNS® there are no set up fees, no training fees, not even commission per journey.

What’s not to like… JOIN US and see for yourself. The first 90 days are free!

Jo Dakin

Founder & CEO of BACKRUNS® Bookings with Benefits platform
www.backruns.com to Register
info@backruns.com Queries

Jo Dakin-Hook is the Independent Operator of PRESLA Ltd, the Award winning All-electric Independent Private Hire chauffeur company. The lessons learned from our private hire chauffeuring company have gone into designing the unique BACKRUNS® platform for Independent chauffeur/operators.

Jo and Steve Dakin-Hook are the co-founders of BACKRUNS® booking platform for Independent Private Hire Operators and drivers. There is currently a free 90-day trial of BACKRUNS on registration, and support is provided online and on demand. Scan the QR code to register and join. Register at www.backruns.com. Queries to info@backruns.com.