15/04/2020
This article aims to enlighten new VTC drivers, it is published for information purposes and reflects the vision of Presti’Driver on this question that many VTCs are asking themselves.
Private VTC driver in Nantes, a profession changed by the use of mobile applications?
Let’s be objective to start this article, a VTC driver of today is not a private VTC driver of yesterday. The main function of the chauffeur de Grande Remise in Nantes was to organize the travels of very well-to-do people, and nobody was afraid to call him ” private chauffeur “. Customers were paying a high price for a quality service provided by a qualified professional VTC driver. It was very difficult for a private VTC driver in Loire-Atlantique to develop his clientele because at that time VTC applications did not exist, nor did the internet. From the 2000s onwards, a certain technological revolution took place, as the VTC drivers in Nantes became visible on the Internet. The network was an important part of the VTC driver‘s clientele in Nantes. It should be noted that the ratio VTC/Taxi allowed, to all the professions of the transport of people with driver, to live very suitably.
2007, the tactile revolution for the private VTC driver in France
On June 29, 2007 Steve Jobs changed the world (and the VTC profession) with the IPhone. Presti’Driver takes you to the serious stuff, which concerns our job as VTC driver.
The fairy tale began in 2008 when two entrepreneurs could not find a cab one evening in Paris, so they had the idea of reinventing the VTC business. Later, they had many children all over the world… and even in Nantes in 2014. The appearance of applications has made it possible to make the request for a transport simple and accessible, so no need to call a cab, a simple click and your private driver VTC arrives instantly. This had the effect of democratizing passenger transport in France, making the VTC driver profession more accessible to a new target sector: daily transport, that of cabs. Moreover, most of our customers consider us as cabs in the function but different in the form, since we are VTC drivers convinced by our job. The quality of the service and the vehicle are not to be neglected according to Presti’Driver, but that is not all.
Presti’Driver will make you discover in a next article the continuation very soon…
2020, the return to reality for VTC drivers in Nantes
This year is crucial for the VTC driver profession for two reasons:
1. The transport of people in France has been democratized by a price war initiated by the applications since 2009. Today, there are more than 25 of them fighting on the market of the instantaneous booking of VTC drivers in almost all the cities of France (Paris, Nantes, Marseille, Lyon, Nice, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, among others).
2. Access to the profession of private VTC driver in Nantes has been made easier. Numerous training centers have been created and many drivers have been trained. The market of the transport of people(VTC) was opened by the applications, it is today a sector almost blocked because the demand is stable but the number of drivers is constantly increasing.
3. The current health crisis linked to Covid-19 is taking a toll on the passenger transport business…
And yes, the beautiful Eldorado promised by the applications to the VTC driver is over, Presti’Driver is convinced that an independent VTC driver earns less today than before. Many drivers in Nantes will tell you that they work phenomenal hours on the applications for a salary that is almost not enough to pay their expenses.
What would be the solutions according to Presti’Driver?
The question that Presti’ Driver is asking is that the VTC driver ‘s job is a job in which we are constantly on the move. The notion of movement is essential, and it is this movement that makes your engine vibrate on a daily basis. The strength of technology is to disperse VTC drivers by putting them “nose to the grindstone” in front of an obligation to drive in order to reimburse their expenses. Presti’Driver and its VTC partners are convinced that the human being is stronger than the machine, in other words, the network and connections are essential to get out of the applications. Presti’Driver also thinks that applications are not necessarily a bad thing for a VTC driver, it’s like all the tools put in place around a contractor … Well used they are a gold mine and too much used they become a pit.
What does Presti’Driver think of all this?
As you have seen, 10 years ago a VTC driver at the beginning of his activity did not make the same turnover as today. The technology arrived in 2007 and the applications are a real strength for a new VTC in Nantes, they allow to please his banker at the beginning of activity. The future looks very bad for the VTC driver applications. As we have seen above, there are solutions to get out of the VTC applications while standing out from the cabs: the professional network and an impeccable quality of service!
And that’s it, we’ve finished these few lines.
We hope you enjoyed our article.