People like familiarity. I am going to qualify that statement by saying I’m not a doctor, a psychiatrist, a psychologist or in any way medically trained. I have not read copious articles in medical journals, or even carried out numerous studies or surveys. I am, first and foremost, above all else, just a driver. The rest of this article is based on nothing else, apart from my own observations and thoughts.
Almost as if it is hard wired into our DNA humans like familiarity. It brings them comfort and security. This is why we go to the same restaurants, pubs and clubs time and time again. It is why, year after year people will go to the same places on holiday. Sometimes just the same country, other times they just return to the same resort, year in year out. By nature, we tend to meet up with, and go out with the same people all the time. That is not to say we are not social animals, who like to meet new people, or try new things, but we are at our most comfortable being surrounded by the familiar. Even the freest spirited, adventurous, exploring among us, like nothing more than getting home. Even if it is only for a short period of time before the urge to move on and go and explore takes over.
Think about your friendship group. How many of them have you known for a number of years, and how many of them have you only just met? Chances are the ones you have known for a number of years, is larger than the ones you have just met. Even if you have just moved somewhere new, and do not know many people, chances are the people they know and are friends with, are people they have been friends with for a while.
There is a reason why the likes of Coronation St and EastEnders have been on TV for so long, and why people will watch their favorite films over and over again. The familiarity of it all is reassuring and comforting. I suspect it goes back to our hunter gatherer roots, and knowing who you can trust to feed you, and protect you, and not throw a spear in your back instead of the mammoth you are hunting.
From my observations, whilst people welcome change, they are also wary of it. You have heard the phrase “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”, meaning, If it works well, why do anything different? When a pub, club or restaurant closes down, it is often met with sadness from their patrons about the loss.
Despite this love for familiarity and the comfort and security it brings, when it comes to transport, we take what is available to us. When it comes to taxi’s we trick ourselves that we use the familiar by using the same firms all the time, because we know what we get, and trust them. That is a false thought though. Think about the last 10 taxi is you got in, even if they were all the same firm. Were they the same driver every time, or was it 10 different drivers? Unless you have a cabbie living on your road, who just so happens to be starting work the same time as you are booking the taxi, it is likely it is 10 different drivers.
Just because you book with the same company all the time, the chances of it being the same driver are slim, and with it the service levels are likely to vary. This is a simple numbers game. Uber currently have around 800 drivers working in Cardiff. If you always order an Uber, you have a 1 in 800 chance of getting a driver you have had before. Dragon have around 600-700, a 1 in 600+ chance of having a driver you have had before. Like any industry, drivers will move from one company to another, and in many cases work for multiple companies, so even if you always use Uber, because you have had the same driver a handful of times, and hope to get them again, they could move on to another company. Or if you use Dragon because the service is usually ok, with over 600 drivers, there is no guarantee what the next driver will be like
Have you ever ordered a taxi, and when it turns up, it is a driver you have had before? Can you remember how happy you were, to be getting in a car with a familiar face? If you have been really lucky, this may have happened to you a few times, where the same driver has picked you up on multiple occasions. Wasn’t that a lot better than when you did not know the driver? Seeing that face you recognised, instantly made you relax that little bit more. When the driver recognised you, they instantly wanted to up their service levels, because they knew you.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could have that experience every time you booked a car? Wouldn’t it be perfect, if every time you booked a taxi or an Uber, you knew exactly who was going to turn up? You knew exactly what car to look out for. You knew exactly the type of service you were going to receive? That is exactly what our Driver Share Club does.
Join our Driver Share Club today and bring familiarity to your travel.
*We allocate Personal & Personal Class Members 3 drivers. A primary driver and 2 back up drivers. The members primary driver will drive them for all journeys they are available to carry. If a member’s primary driver is unavailable for any journey, then one of their back up drivers will drive them. A member is driven by one of their 3 drivers in over 95% of their journeys