Alternative taxi and ride-sharing services are increasingly popular among customers all over the world. Broker InvestaGO compared how major players of the sharing economy are performing in Central Europe. In Slovakia, they are succeeding in expanding into new cities and thus targeting an increasing number of customers. And, similar to the Czech Republic, more alternative taxi services are heading our way, bringing the number of major players to four.
Slovakia represents a very limited area, at least in terms of size. Three big companies have been operating there so far, namely the American Uber, the Estonian Bolt and the Czech Liftago.
Although there are no official figures, Uber can be considered the number one alternative taxi service, just like in the Czech Republic. This is also in light of the fact that the rival service Bolt is widespread in more cities than Uber. However, Uber is popular in Bratislava, and as such it can reach a larger number of clients. This is based, among other things, on the assumption that residents of the capital are more open to using apps on their mobile phones.
Liftago, the third player, is not left behind either. However, it focuses mainly on transporting shipments for corporate clients rather than providing standard taxi services.
Although all of the above are already widely popular, their market power is questionable. The difficulty in analysing the market for alternative taxis is that neither Uber nor Bolt report their economic results. We only know what their geographical coverage is.
While Uber focuses on Bratislava, Bolt operates also in smaller locations – in 17 cities in total. In the end, it is the customer who will benefit from the intensifying competition, so the price growth of these services in an era of double-digit inflation is rather below average.
Another company should be joining the three above mentioned major players both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Soon, Slovaks will be able to take a taxi ride with the Polish company iTaxi, which, according to Rzecpospolita, is considering entering these two Central European markets.
Matúš Mahút, InvestaGO analyst
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