EUROPE’S largest taxi e-hailing app says the first five months of business in Brighton have exceeded all expectations.

mytaxi launched in the city back in June offering 50 per cent off all trips for Brighton passengers until the end of the month.

Five months on and the company says trade in Brighton has gone from strength to strength.

David Savage, general manager for the UK, said: “We have more than doubled our work since we started.

“We now have more than 250 drivers on our books and thousands of passengers.

“Our busiest period each week is from Thursday until Sunday.

“At our busiest times, we have around 250 drivers available to us.

“We continue to grow and demand for the app is increasing.”

Hannah Soll-Morris, head of operations and expansion, said at the time of the launch: “We couldn’t be more excited to launch in Brighton.

“Brighton is an outstanding city for many reasons; the welcoming local community, the beach, the vibrancy and diversity, the thriving business community and the exciting events calendar just to name a few.

“We’ve had an incredibly strong start to 2018 by both expanding our London business and launching in Nottingham and Edinburgh and we’re thrilled to continue to extend our UK footprint in Brighton.

“We hope that mytaxi can provide you a safe pair of hands behind the wheel as well exceptional local knowledge”

Mr Savage said yesterday that the app is ‘an additional tool’ for customers to use.

He said the acceptance time from drivers when offered a journey is less than 20 seconds.

He said: “There are two important reasons why Brighton is working so well for mytaxi.

“Brighton is a technically progressive city and it’s culturally diverse.

“We also see a lot of commuter traffic in mytaxi.

“We now operate in more than 100 cities worldwide and we are supplementing the work of the drivers here in Brighton.

“The quality of the mytaxi service in Brighton is great and Brighton passengers recognise this with the drivers averaging 4.8 stars out of 5.

“Since launch, we have covered a total tour distance of 171,000 km, that is the equivalent of Brighton to Sydney.”

Mr Savage talks about ‘meaningful expansion’ within Brighton and its other target areas.

He said: “We have engaged with our driver base and we have listened to all feedback.

“We have recently relaunched the app because of that.”

The new rebuild, including a new look and feel, gives customers the ability to book a variety of updated options when taking a cab.

The idea is to make options more prominent, giving both passengers and drivers new increased visibility of the journey needs.

Along with the look and feel changes, the app is technically able to offer a broader variety of service types in the future.

Johannes Mewes, Chief Product Officer at mytaxi, said: “mytaxi has always been about convenience, flexibility and reliability.

“Whilst we wanted to keep it as easy and quick as possible to order a taxi, we also wanted to display the various options we offer more prominently.

“With this rebuild, we have laid the foundation to become an even broader mobility service provider in future. In the end, it is all about serving the various needs of passengers while also improving urban mobility.”