Dart introduces cashless payment, airport pick-up

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Brunei’s only ride-hailing app, Dart, has just introduced cashless payments through debit and credit card, and has also announced an exciting new service — airport pick-up.

Going cashless is easy with Dart, you can easily top up your Dart credits by using a debit or credit card with Visa and Mastercard.

Here’s how:

  1. Open the app, tap on payment settings

  2. Select ‘top-up credit’

  3. Select ‘credit card’

  4. Select your desired top-up amount

  5. Process your card details with the secure payment gateway, and your purchased top-up will be instantly credited to your rider account

NB: Before booking your ride, don’t forget to select “Payment with Credits” on the summary page.

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Airport pickup now available

DartCar is now offering pick-up services for airport customers — so you no longer have to pester your family members to pick you up from the airport in the middle of the night.

Pick-ups from Brunei International Airport are only available from the designated pick-up point adjacent to P2 parking.

Read the full article here:
https://thescoop.co/2019/09/14/dart-introduces-cashless-payment-airport-pick-up/

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Dart Family Fun Day | 20th October 2019

The Dart team organized a Family Fun Day for a morning full of games, food and good vibes. It has been a rewarding time for the company, having won the award for Outstanding Youth Project earlier this year and also being a country finalist for the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup of the Year Awards 2019. The Dart Family Fun Day was organized for Dart Team & Dart drivers and their families to catch up and socialise and meet new members of the Dart family.

Dart mudahkan pengguna tempah kenderaan (Dart makes ride booking easy for its users)

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Dart adalah satu aplikasi yang memudahkan penggunanya untuk mendapatkan perkhidmatan kenderaan di Brunei Darussalam dengan cepat. Sistem ini juga membolehkan penggunanya untuk menempah kenderaan mengikut tempat dan tarikh yang sesuai mengikut keperluan pengguna aplikasi tersebut. Pengguna dapat membuat pembayaran dengan dua cara, iaitu dengan wang tunai atau wang prabayar yang dapat dibeli dengan menggunakan Kad Visa atau Mastercard. Penumpang akan dikenakan bayaran mengikut hari, masa dan jarak perjalanan.

Klik link ini untuk teruskan pembacaan: http://www.epaper.pelitabrunei.gov.bn/#20

Dart is an app that helps its users to get a ride in Brunei Darussalam easily. The system allows its users to easily book a ride simply by choosing their preferred place, time and date. Users can make payment using two method, which are cash or top-up prepaid that can be purchased using Visa Card or Mastercard. Passengers will be charged according to the day, time and distance.

Click this link to continue reading: http://www.epaper.pelitabrunei.gov.bn/#20

Brunei taxis have no fear! Dart is the solution

A new way forward for public transport in Brunei. A proposal from Dart's CEO

#dartCEOblog #supportlocal #bruneitaxi #publictransportbrunei

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The story is an increasingly familiar one. From Singapore to Spain, Germany to Ghana, Malaysia to Morocco, whenever a ride-hailing company like Uber moves into a country, the local taxi operators react with fury. Their fear is that this new competitor will undermine their business and steal their customers; and, given the ease of booking a ride on your smartphone, and the lower rates charged by services like Uber, this is not an unreasonable concern. Such tensions have sparked protests in cities all over the world, even culminating in acts of violence against Uber drivers (and those of its rivals, such as Grab and Lyft).

 
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Here in Brunei, we will not repeat events of those unfortunate tensions with local taxis. With the advent of Dart Logistics,the country’s first ride-booking service, I want to quash any misconceptions and target the issues upfront. There is, in fact, no reason why Dart and the taxi community cannot work together. And, fortunately for both parties, the unique conditions in Brunei mean that we are not competing over the same market. Here is why:

  • Taxis in Brunei cater to a very specific demographic.
  • They provide transport mainly to tourists and foreign businessmen, which is why they are most often found waiting outside the airport, or by hotels.
  • Locals and permanent residents of the country almost never use their services because, quite frankly, they find the prices too expensive.
  • Given the low cost of petrol here, and how cheap it can be to buy and maintain a car, it makes more sense, financially speaking, to drive yourself.
 

So What's New?

Indeed, for most Bruneians, taxis do not exist even as a last resort; it simply would not occur to us to use a taxi. What you may not realize is that we have a very strong ride-sharing culture here, and if you do not have access to a car, you ask a friend or family member for a lift. However In those unfortunate situations where no one can pick you up, you usually accept that you are stranded.

Even though they do exist, if it were not for the Dart taxi booking App I’d safely assume that you, reader, do not have a single taxi’s number on your phone, nor have you used one for any reason in the past year. By this criterion, they can hardly be called a public transportation service.

After the launch of Dart Taxi in May 2017, the single most common piece of feedback we received was that the prices were 'too expensive' – in most cases, far too expensive - this is of course due to the expectations from the Local public wanting an uber like service.

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Market GAP

This is the market gap that Dart seeks to fill. Our goal is to create a cheap and reliable form of transport for the Bruneian public. Something that ordinary people could use on a daily basis. This means, however, that we cannot charge the same rates as the taxis. 

Plenty of locals were supportive of the idea of a ride-booking service, but only if it were significantly cheaper. These people constitute a brand-new market: one that is not currently being serviced by the taxis. 

This is the market that we are interested in appealing to, by offering rides at prices that people are actually willing to pay (via a private-hire car service called Dart Car). It is therefore inaccurate to say that Dart is in competition with the taxis at all. If anything, our service threatens to legitimize  the ‘unofficial’ taxi operators – the infamous ‘taxi sapu’ – who give lifts at discount prices, but are unregulated, uninsured and often unsafe.

 
 
 

Working Together

However, the main reason why taxis have nothing to fear from Dart is that we would like to work with them as much as possible. Rather than shutting them out of this new market, we want to give them full access. Most of the taxi drivers in Brunei are experienced professionals who are dedicated to their jobs – exactly the sort of people we want driving with Dart. They already have all the necessary experience required to transport passengers commercially; they would only need to attend a short course on how to use the Dart App in order to become fully qualified. These drivers would benefit also to be the only ones allowed to perform both DartTaxi and DartCar jobs, increasing their pool of jobs exponentially!

If taxis choose not to participate, they lose nothing – they can continue to perform taxi jobs at taxi rates. But if they decide to partner with Dart, they could potentially see a vast increase in their earnings.

Rather than treating this as a competition between Dart and the taxi community, it would be more productive to view the situation as an opportunity where everyone has a chance to benefit. If the taxis wish to remain separate and not work with Dart, they are perfectly entitled to do so. They can continue to serve a niche market of foreign tourists and businessmen and earn the same income that they always have. But Dart is offering them the chance to broaden their horizons and service an entirely new market. This could potentially bring them far greater levels of income, whilst also helping the local community, who deserve a convenient and affordable form of public transportation.

 
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The Dart way

They say that a rising tide lifts all boats – meaning that even small improvements in the economy will benefit everyone. That is what Dart is aiming to do, by opening up new markets and providing jobs to people who are willing to work for them. We are not a threat to the taxis; far from it! All we ask is that we try things the Dart way, and let’s see whether we can improve living standards for everyone in Brunei.

 

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