Coming into the taxi market with a bang

“It’s about the customer. It’s the customer that needs the trip. As it’s been, it’s hard to get a taxi here, and that is no secret. What we can do is hop into this market and improve safety, quality, transparency and availability.”

This is what Sæunn Ósk Unnsteinsdóttir, CEO of Hopp Reykjavik, says, “The company will open full-power taxi service tomorrow. Last week, the company has tested the software behind the service. It is developed here in Iceland, but in many ways it is similar to the global technology known as Uber.

Already 50 drivers and more to come

Unnsteinsdóttir says that Hopp already has about 50 drivers who plan to drive under the company’s brand name, and the number is set to increase significantly in the coming days and weeks. There is a great demand for services based on easy and user-friendly interfaces.

What distinguishes services from those offered by the established taxi companies is that people order and pay for their travel before they set off. In this way, users can score drivers on the service they provide and the same applies to the drivers’ ability to use technology.

Unnsteinsdóttir, who is the latest guest of Dagmál, Morgunblaðið TV magazine, says that a new approach to this part of the transport system will improve the service and lower prices for consumers. This will result in increased usage, which in turn will reduce the pressure on the country’s transportation infrastructure. Hopp already operates thousands of electric scooters in the city, used by thousands of people who use the company’s services and technology every single day.