A businesswoman from Buckinghamshire is launching an online cab directory to help women and other concerned travellers find female taxi and executive hire drivers in the UK.  Ladycab.com is the brainchild of Annette Fox, herself a private hire driver, who hit upon the idea after so many of her clients were frustrated at how hard it was to find a female taxi driver.
Wary of high costs of advertising her service and the limited geographic reach, Ladycab was born. The directory, the first of its kind, is free for users. It is funded jointly by low-cost subscriptions from taxi and executive hire companies and by paid-for advertising targeting the website users.
As the dangers of using an unlicensed mini cab are rarely out of the headlines, all companies/drivers have been vetted by Ladycab.com to be valid taxi/private hire licence holders where applicable. But rather than just being a safety issue, it also gives women travellers the freedom of choice when booking a taxi.
Ladycab is aimed at a wide range of demographic groups, but is expected to be weighted heavily towards females between 18 and 60 years old.
Users (travellers) search using a postal district (the first half of a
postcode) or town/city name to obtain a list of up to 10 companies/drivers along with key information to allow them to make a decision.  The user then phones the selected company/driver and makes a private booking.
The subscribers will be the providers of taxi and executive hire services, either as companies or as independent drivers.  The launch target for Ladycab.com is to have 800-1,000 subscribers covering some 3,000 postal districts.  The launch is currently planned for the end of October 2008.
It is estimated that there are around 70,000 taxis in the UK and over 150,000 drivers.
Ladycab wishes to enhance the benefits of being a subscriber beyond just the inclusion in the directory.  They are offering a number of commercial opportunities to selected organisations that supply products and services to the taxi and executive hire community, in the form of group discount offers to Ladycab.com subscribers.  These offers will be promoted by Ladycab amongst its subscribers through regular email contact and other occasional direct marketing activity.
No finder/arrangement fees will be paid to Ladycab.com.
Ladycab.com will work with participating companies to develop a means of identifying bona fide subscribers when redeeming group discount offers.
Are you a female taxi driver or traveller wanting to know more? Go to www.ladycab.com for further information.