Business soars for new ‘Bahamian Uber’

Business soars for new ‘Bahamian Uber’
Bahamas Ride Co-owner Gavin Christie.

After just one month in operation, Bahamas Ride confirmed that business is on the rise and its owners are hopeful to expand the newly formed transportation platform in the coming months.

Bahamas Ride, the transportation platform which has been described as the Bahamian Uber, launched April 12.

Gavin Christie, one of the company’s co-owners, told Eyewitness News that business has surpassed expectations.

“Business is really good,” Christie said.

“It’s been picking up. The demand is definitely there and we are getting a lot of requests. While business has been increasing weekly, we can definitely say that we saw a 20 per cent increase in business during the carnival weekend. People have responded really well to the app and the service we provide, and we’re happy about that.

“We have a huge fleet of drivers. A good mixture of standard, mid-sized and extra-large vehicles. We are now getting a lot of requests for luxe vehicles, so, we will be looking to add that on to the fleet really soon.”

The company came out of the gate full-throttle with technology support from mobile service provider ALIV.

The Bahamas Ride app is downloadable on any smartphone and, once downloaded, potential riders plug in a location and let the app find a driver in their area.

Users, according to executives, are then quoted a price for the ride and will be able to pay for the experience via cash, debit or credit card.

All Bahamas Ride vehicles will be equipped with Wi-Fi for up to five passengers to use while in transit, the company said.

“The relationship with ALIV has been amazing. We couldn’t do it without them. They’ve allocated a lot of infrastructure to our venture. Working with them hand-in-hand will be a great relationship moving forward,” he shared.

“The more surprising revelation is that we find that the split in our customer base is actually 50/50 between tourists and Bahamians.”

With only one month of business under its belt, Bahamas Ride, he said, is preparing to expand into the Family Islands as well.

“The demand is here in Nassau, so, the plan is to get Nassau up and fully running, and then the plan is to get the business established on other islands,” he said.

“We are hoping to move into other key islands within the next two to three months.”

Those Family Islands include Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma.

About Theo Sealy

Theo Sealy is an award-winning journalist who serves as senior broadcast reporter and weekend TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. He has achieved several career milestones, including his work as a field contributor with CNN, his coverage of four consecutive general elections, his production of several docuseries and his Bahamas Press Club Awards win for “Best Television News Story” in 2018.