Placie Launches Australian First Mobility App

Placie, Australia’s first rideshare and taxi aggregation app, has today launched nationwide as restrictions begin to ease across the country.

Majority owned by carsales.com Ltd and developed in Australia, Placie is a one-stop transport app for consumers to save time, money and effort, using real-time data to schedule and book multimodal journeys via one account.

COVID-19 has shifted Aussies’ transport behaviours and consumer habits. Since popular rideshare provider, Ola, joined Placie in July 2021, Placie has seen an approximate 50/50 split in taxi (53%) and rideshare (47%) bookings – with consumers being led by price and convenience, over transport modes.

With the ability to compare and book taxi and rideshare services within the one app, consumers now have visibility on current pricing equilibrium between the two modes.

Whether Aussies are going back to work, heading out for drinks or planning fun-filled weekend activities for the family, consumers are getting into a new rhythm and Placie provides options to help people get to their chosen destination in a seamless, and timely fashion.

“Placie is over three years in the making and core to bringing the app to life has been working with carsales as majority owner. With carsales’ strong heritage in business-to-consumer marketplaces, and innovation and investment in technology and product, it has been exciting to leverage its culture and technology competencies into Placie,” said Placie Executive, Ed Myer.

“Placie is launching at the optimal time to equip consumers to navigate pricing fluctuations, speed of travel and convenience. Placie’s real-time data aggregation allows consumers to sort multiple transport options including taxi, rideshare, public transport and private vehicle – by speed, and price – economising ground travel and representing a new category of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) application in Australia.

“As of today, consumers can find and compare transport options based on their preferences, including cost or time, with access to some of our best-in-class partners including Ola, 13Cabs, Black and White Cabs and Silvertop Taxis,” continued Myer.

Utilising SkedGo’s intermodal routing engine and back-end MaaS technology, consumers can select travel options in Placie based on their preferences and comfort – these include ‘Owner Transport’, ‘Private Transport’ and ‘Public Transport’.

Transport mega trends will continue to unfold as consumers look to convenience and cost as key considerations in how they get from place to place. Global transport spend is rapidly increasing ($8.7tn in 2018, forecast to $12.6tn in 2030) and mobility as a service (MaaS) penetration is predicted to skyrocket (<0.1% in 2018, forecast to 6.8% in 2030)1.

13cabs Chief Operating Officer, Stuart Overell, welcomed the initiative, saying it was great timing with passengers flooding back to hospitality venues post lockdowns.

“With more than 10,000 13cabs on the road from big cities to the regions, we are excited about being on Placie and serving the demand from all of our customers who are keen to get out and about,” Overell said.

“Placie will help us provide a better service to passengers during critical peak periods, which means less time waiting and a much better passenger experience,” continued Overell.

For further information or to download the app, visit www.placie.com. Placie functionality will continue to evolve over the next year as further partners are integrated into the app.