PickMe in 2023 will attract new segments of the community to its platform by adding state-of-the-art features that will help users beat the economic doldrums by providing win-win transport solutions.
PickMe’s new feature ‘Direction’ allows vehicle owners to share travel plans (from A to B) and their willingness to provide rides to those in need. This gives driver partners on the platform the opportunity to pick up paying passengers along the way. With Direction, the vehicle owners will earn money while using their vehicles and passengers can also benefit from finding a convenient and cost-effective way to get to their destinations. In essence, it’s carpooling with a difference, allowing drivers to get more miles per litre of fuel while improving their fuel economy.
PickMe CEO Jiffry Zulfer said the new feature is fast becoming a secondary source of income for middle-class vehicle owners in the city.
The gig economy has proven to be a sustainable formula on the PickMe platform in the current economic climate and PickMe will continue to strengthen systems this year, to ensure a stable working environment for its primary and secondary income driver and rider partner networks.
“In a country where people working in non-permanent employment arrangements are considered a negative, we have ensured that more and more people engage in this form of employment and we have the numbers to prove it. Last year alone, the network expanded exponentially, directly impacting the GDP growth of our provinces. Our taxi hailing growth was at 250 percent and our rider-hailing grew by 35 percent, clearly showing that PickMe is a well-positioned local brand, which has gained the acceptance of the public and those on the gig platform,” said Zulfer.
Although there is no employer-employee relationship in a gig economy, where driver and rider partners can work in whatever time frame they want and leave the network without notice, the company pays special attention to building loyalty amongst them. Zulfer said the company offers special benefits through loyalty programmes for their primary income category driver and rider partners.
