Officially launching in May, Rel8’s app went live on March 15, making it the second ridesharing company to begin operations in Saskatoon.
Saskatoon is the first North American city for the company to hit, after being tested a year ago in Ghana.
“In Canada, yes, this is the first city. We actually do have the business license to operate in Edmonton, but, we don’t operate there, (just) in Saskatoon. We have also operated in Ghana, West Africa, for a while, and that was part of the pilot project,” Rel8 director Daniel Amoah said.
According to the company, the pilot enjoyed success in Ghana based primarily on two major factors, the first being a cheaper cost to riders over using a taxi or another ridesharing service, the second being the availability for drivers to earn a higher income.
“We have lots of incentive programs, and what we intend to do is to actually give riders lots of incentives. So, at the end of the year, we have a discount program where we give them lots of discounts. So, you might end up getting, you know, it’s kind of like a money-back reward,” Amoah said.
“For drivers, we also have some incentive programs for them because we consider them as major stakeholders of this business.”
The company is only running two drivers so far, but plans on expanding over the next six months before capping the number at around 100.
Uber launched last month in Saskatoon and although the company won’t divulge specific numbers, it did confirm usage is up.
“As a private company we are not in a position to share the number of drivers using the platform in Saskatoon,” Uber spokesperson Jean-Christophe de la Rue wrote in his statement.
“However, I can tell you that while the number is growing quickly, we are always looking at making our technology available to more drivers.”
For the time being, people now have stwo options to choose from when looking for a ride share app in the city.
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