Jersey Lifts app's ride is outside

Friday 18 May 2018

Naysayers, dwindling off-peak driver numbers and a lack of buy-in from government and police officials have led the Uber-style Jersey Lifts carshare app to shut down under a year since launching.

But the team nonetheless say the venture was a success in showing off Jersey's homegrown talent.

Created by a team of developers named Itineris, the mobile download aimed to resolve longstanding fears over passenger safety associated with the 10,000-strong controversial carshare Facebook group of the same name.

It allowed passengers to request lifts from and to any location in Jersey using their phone. The app then calculated how much users should contribute towards the cost of a lift. That total was based on fuel price and distance of the journey, meaning that, in contrast to some users of the Facebook group, drivers did not make a profit – something in breach of the law without a taxi licence.

Pictured: The app suggested a rate for passengers to pay based on fuel costs and distance at the end of the journey.

In a statement, Itineris explained: “We decided to launch this to see if Jersey was ready to accept a mobile-first approach to ridesharing, and to try to combat the current safety concerns being aimed at the then current ways that people were discovering available ridesharing opportunities…

“Sadly, this project was always going to have been one limited by various factors. From a lack of people willing to give lifts outside of peak times, lack of regulatory support, to various individuals questioning our motives behind the project, we've decided that it's run its course and to move on to other projects.”

Since their July 2017 launch, the product endured a bumpy ride, including butting heads with Police officials in January. 

In a bid to clamp down on unregulated transport, Police issued flyers appearing to target Jersey Lift drivers, warning that they could be committing an insurance offence, and threatening to share driver information with insurance providers, the Taxes Office and Social Security.

Pictured: The flyers handed out by Police.

But in an open letter to Home Affairs Minister Kristina Moore, the group hit out at the Police over what they described as a “heavy handed” campaign that may be in breach of the data protection law.

The letter went on to say that the app had dedicated safety features, including driver and rider ratings, a report system, and detailed location records, adding: “...We are extremely disappointed that SOJP does not appear to have appreciated the distinction between the Facebook Group and the App.”

It did not gain the endorsement of government officials, as hoped, and later struggled to secure enough drivers to cope with demand. 

But during its short tenure, the app enjoyed a good level of success. Over 4,500 users signed up to the service – up to 14% of local 15 to 55-year-olds.

It oversaw more than 1,700 rides and managed to get to lift-requesters in an average of seven minutes on Fridays, their busiest day of the week. 

But their biggest success, they explained, was championing homegrown talent in an island that often looks abroad for those with strong digital experience.

“The constant feedback from our users lead to a very natural and responsive approach to adding new features and changing current ones for the better. We believe that we couldn't have become what we ended up with without our users' help,” the team said.

They later added: “Our goal has always been to show Jersey that instead of relying on external businesses to try to modernise our island, that our homebrew skills can produce these solutions instead.

“Thank you for all your support.”