# GPU's (Get Picked Up) Huge Opportunity in Australia



## Sydney Uber

Daniel Rombouts with his market-leading Driver's/ Rider's App has a huge opportunity in Australia. EVERY Tech Startup has its teething problems, but I can report from having carried out and offloaded a lot of work over the last 4 years that is is a VERY robust system and has functionality that is unique to anything currently in the market place.

GPU's recent expansion plans into the Rideshare market will provide UBERX drivers with much needed options. I believe GPU's Rideshare pitch to the the demanding Corporate Market is wrong - but that is only my opinion based on 30 years of providing Taxi/ HC services. I may well be proven wrong.

GPU's challenge moving forward is scaling up to meet growing demand. Many of us have experienced the incredible UBER "machine", facilitating the onboarding of drivers in huge numbers. But UBER fails to put ANY value on human capital, happy to pay big dollars in referral & sign-up fees to feed the unending burning and churning of Uber drivers.

We've all heard of some great Crowdfunding success stories. Should GPU consider financing it's necessary expansion by offering its drivers who already have committed their labour and Vehicle equity into GPU's Success by offering a investment option to drivers?

Wouldn't investors in a Tech start-up, who also make up its workforce be the most committed and genuine investors that Daniel could hope for?

Please contribute with your ideas of what sort of driver investment program you would sign up for. And take a few moments to answer the survey above


----------



## Scotsman

Looks like you have resolved your issues with GPU.


----------



## Coconutz

As someone signed up to GPU, I recognise this type of income stream as the way of the future. Multiple income streams. Long gone are the days of single income households. I'd very much like to get in on the ground floor with a rideshare app like this as gocar was before my involvement in this new industry.


----------



## Coconutz

I don't have any ideas to contribute as I feel GPU's infancy issues are tech and server based which is something that will be addressed with growth. They're incentives and current modus operandi is enough for me to climb aboard.


----------



## Sydney Uber

Scotsman said:


> Looks like you have resolved your issues with GPU.


No that hasn't been resolved. Daniel is playing "hardball".

But this thread hopefully will bring some discussion on "alternative " methods of expanding a Rideshare service.

What I HATE about ALL the larger Taxi, LIMO, RIDESHARE companies/Apps is their TOTAL disregard for the HUMAN CAPITAL that play a BIG part in their success or otherwise.

"Churn & Burn" model of growth seems to be the only one subscribed to by ambitious technology providers. No consideration for SUSTAINABLE growth with driver partners being valued, long term participants.

Most of these outfits think that the advent of driverless cars will finally release them of the scourge called a workforce. But their are HUGE advantages in having a experienced, stable workforce.

Securing a workforce's loyalty and performance by giving them a REAL stake in the business is something that hasn't been looked into closely enough

I'd like your input Daniel Rombouts of how GPU Rideshare will compete with UberX in 5 years time when they start rolling out driverless cars Much cheaper than GPU driven cars? What would your point of difference be? How will you sell up rather than down-sell?


----------



## Sydney Uber

Coconutz said:


> I don't have any ideas to contribute as I feel GPU's infancy issues are tech and server based which is something that will be addressed with growth. They're incentives and current modus operandi is enough for me to climb aboard.


From what I've experienced GPU's technology & server back end is incredibly solid. Daniel has developed a very sophisticated booking portal for clients. There is none of the hit & miss of a Uber pin drop involved. There is direct communication to the client of driver details and with a little experience, pre-bookings will be welcomed by the Rideshare community

Keep us all informed how GPU works for you


----------



## Sydney Uber

So sad that there isn't wider support of potential competitor to UBER. 

Bouncing the thread.


----------



## LevelX

Sydney Uber said:


> So sad that there isn't wider support of potential competitor to UBER.


Well GPU looks to the same requirements of say Uber black for licensing, rego and insurances .

Plus they want fancy cars, drivers in suits etc.

All things Uberx drivers don't have, so yes. I can see why the 'support' isn't there for them.


----------



## vanman79

I look forward to working with gpu after 1st of july.


----------



## vanman79

LevelX said:


> Well GPU looks to the same requirements of say Uber black for licensing, rego and insurances .
> 
> Plus they want fancy cars, drivers in suits etc. To be legally driving after july 1st in Sa i will need all of those even for uber
> 
> All things Uberx drivers don't have, so yes. I can see why the 'support' isn't there for them.


----------



## Ben Hall

LevelX said:


> Well GPU looks to the same requirements of say Uber black for licensing, rego and insurances .
> 
> Plus they want fancy cars, drivers in suits etc.
> 
> All things Uberx drivers don't have, so yes. I can see why the 'support' isn't there for them.


Arent they recruiting for uber X style pre book service though?


----------



## LevelX

Ben Hall said:


> Arent they recruiting for uber X style pre book service though?


Who knows... I had a poke around the website and couldn't see anything like that. So if its true, then they didn't really try very hard to 'sell' it to me as I was poking around the drivers pages.

The standards of cars required is much 'higher' than most normaly UberX drivers. So if you're correct, they need to put a page up somewhere as I would be interested in signing up.


----------



## Ben Hall

Grand said:


> I agree. I too have checked the site since it was originally placed in this forum. They have plenty of time to add pages that
> 1. Cover the 'budget' service from a pax perspective, which begs the question - How does pax know if it is not on their web site?
> 2. Cover the 'budget' service from a driver perspective.


I think initially bookings may be tied up with the contracts they have.


----------



## LevelX

Grand said:


> Cover the 'budget' service from a pax perspective


Doing a booking, there is no offer of a budget service...... So they fail in both showing the customer they offer this, and the drivers!



Ben Hall said:


> I think initially bookings may be tied up with the contracts they have.


Fair enough then on the pax side, but on the drivers sign up side, there is no talk of a 'UberX' style of service coming....


----------



## LevelX

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah don't know what's happening on the budget side.. but did notice the newspaper requirement! I laughed. Really, who reads a paper in the car!? Anyone?

I did get the calculator to work for me a while ago. It was nearly 3 times the price of Uberx to get to the airport.

So yes this is why the interest is low from drivers in this product, it's only pitched as a premium product, so until they put up info about the budget offering , interest will be low as Uberx drivers don't have the cars, insurances, rego and maybe even suits required for the premium offering.


----------



## Daniel Rombouts

LevelX said:


> Well GPU looks to the same requirements of say Uber black for licensing, rego and insurances .
> 
> Plus they want fancy cars, drivers in suits etc.
> 
> All things Uberx drivers don't have, so yes. I can see why the 'support' isn't there for them.


Hi Guys,

Infortunately we don't have 1500 programmers to work on everything at on!

We are busy with the client app development and will get around to the site updates soon enough.

Many businesses out there have come and gone over the years focusing on promising drivers everything through a pristine site but we have always been 100% focused on building up the client side as bookings are the most important item on everyone's agenda!

You don't need a suit and we are expecting a 4 Door Sedan and someone who we are able to have a pleasant chat to (and so will or customers)

Feel free to ask anything you have questions about our give me a call


----------



## Daniel Rombouts

LevelX said:


> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Yeah don't know what's happening on the budget side.. but did notice the newspaper requirement! I laughed. Really, who reads a paper in the car!? Anyone?
> 
> I did get the calculator to work for me a while ago. It was nearly 3 times the price of Uberx to get to the airport.
> 
> So yes this is why the interest is low from drivers in this product, it's only pitched as a premium product, so until they put up info about the budget offering , interest will be low as Uberx drivers don't have the cars, insurances, rego and maybe even suits required for the premium offering.


The GPU Ride fares will only show up in cities where it is available... E.g. Currently Sydney. All other cities will default to business sedan pricing until we go live in those cities with the new service


----------



## Daniel Rombouts

LevelX said:


> Who knows... I had a poke around the website and couldn't see anything like that. So if its true, then they didn't really try very hard to 'sell' it to me as I was poking around the drivers pages.
> 
> The standards of cars required is much 'higher' than most normaly UberX drivers. So if you're correct, they need to put a page up somewhere as I would be interested in signing up.


The newspaper/ water etc is a legacy thing for business sedans... We haven't customised that yet...

However this morning a driver is doing a Sydney --> Canberra fare for $522 so I'm sure we will get some referrals from them when they mention it to some friends

I get that the website isn't highly geared to sign people up... But we don't really have high turnover of drivers so this isn't a big requirement from our perspective as generally once someone is signed up they stay with us taking however many bookings suit them.


----------



## Daniel Rombouts

Grand said:


> Let me start by saying I am very interested.
> 
> I beg to differ and just a personal view.
> It does not take 1500 programmers to create a few pages of text on a web page.
> You have spent time contributing to the forum (including some info about your budget service and responses) plus the time you have spent chatting on the phone repeating the same things over and over both to potential and existing drivers.
> 1 hour per driver x 8 and there goes a day. That time could easily have been used to create a a few web pages.
> Now days people (me) want to see all information to make a decision.
> If you want to sell your service in this forum may I then suggest you put together the full blurb, in one go in a new thread, that explains the budget service fully and answers all the typical driver questions.
> Members can then review etc etc.


1500 programmers was a reference to Uber....
We don't look at talking with drivers as not time efficient - as we want to chat to people and make sure you are suitable to work with our business. A bit more old school I suppose.

We have a few threads going in Sydney and Perth where we have attempted to communicate clearly everything.
https://uberpeople.net/threads/gpu-...-referrals-and-are-looking-for-drivers.80741/


----------



## LevelX

Daniel Rombouts said:


> Infortunately we don't have 1500 programmers to work on everything at on!


Well you only need 1 to update the website with a 'budget' info page.



Daniel Rombouts said:


> The GPU Ride fares will only show up in cities where it is available.


fare enough. I did a fare quote for Melbourne, which I'm guessing you're not in yet for the budget market.



Daniel Rombouts said:


> The newspaper/ water etc is a legacy thing for business sedans... We haven't customised that yet...


Water I'm fine with, but newspapers seems such a overkill these days. Does anyone read them while being driven? I couldn't think of anything worse.



Daniel Rombouts said:


> However this morning a driver is doing a Sydney --> Canberra fare for $522 s


Hmmmm. Google tells me its 3 h 6 min drive time and 287 kms. Plus the driver will have to come back empty. So its at least a 8hr day, with 600kms for $522 (is that before or after your cut?)



Daniel Rombouts said:


> I get that the website isn't highly geared to sign people up... But we don't really have high turnover of drivers


I get you might not have a big turn over, BUT for a driver that will be doing the more 'budget' end, there is zero info up there about that. Which makes it hard for when I see info about GPU wanting to go head to head with uber, but then I go looking to see what its about. At the moment your website only shows you doing high end work etc. So I end up confused.


----------



## Daniel Rombouts

LevelX said:


> Well you only need 1 to update the website with a 'budget' info page.
> 
> fare enough. I did a fare quote for Melbourne, which I'm guessing you're not in yet for the budget market.
> 
> Water I'm fine with, but newspapers seems such a overkill these days. Does anyone read them while being driven? I couldn't think of anything worse.
> 
> Hmmmm. Google tells me its 3 h 6 min drive time and 287 kms. Plus the driver will have to come back empty. So its at least a 8hr day, with 600kms for $522 (is that before or after your cut?)
> 
> I get you might not have a big turn over, BUT for a driver that will be doing the more 'budget' end, there is zero info up there about that. Which makes it hard for when I see info about GPU wanting to go head to head with uber, but then I go looking to see what its about. At the moment your website only shows you doing high end work etc. So I end up confused.


I get it - programmers are busy essentially on other tasks - we will get around to the page.
We weren't sure on the level of response we would receive on this forum so we just put a post up to see what the vibe was like

A newspaper not required - that's only for Business Sedans and higher services

The rate was after our commission be including GST (so $474ex) . - The drive wouldn't take longer than 7 hours. (probably less as it was 5:45am pickup so not much traffic)

In the meantime - have a read of the Sydney thread - there are alot of Q&As on there or also feel free to ask any questions you have.


----------



## WollyDriver

I think that you wouldn't give away the business to drivers, once you have given a share, then you don't get it back, even if they stop driving. The current method of engaging the drivers is the trailing commission on pax that you have referred, this grows the business for everyone. The lock-in/catch is that if you stop driving, then you lose the trailing commission. So drivers have an incentive to continue driving. At the core, it is up to the business to ensure that the drivers feel they are getting a good deal. The ongoing commission is much better than Uber with their one-off payment, and if GPU really are so personally available/responsive, then that would likely be enough.

BTW, Is GPU actually trying to raise funding? It might not be a bad investment (though obviously the real drivers would know better, and you would need a proper prospectus and financials/etc to decide on that), the risk is competing with Uber, the rewards of doing it right and/or as a niche player could be excellent....


----------

