eCabs expands into second Croatian city

eCabs Technologies has expanded its operations in Croatia, with local taxi operator Taxi Barok going live on its Maltese-built platform in Varaždin following a successful migration.

The launch marks the company's second operational city partnership in the country, following Taxi Fiume's launch in Rijeka in August.

"We’ve worked hard to build Barok in Varaždin. Most of our business comes from passengers hailing our cars on the street or calling our call centre. For us, the next step is to protect and strengthen that business while growing bookings through our app," Taxi Barok director Denis Dezmaric said.

The operator said it chose the platform to strengthen its existing street-hail and call centre services while expanding its app-based bookings as customer and driver expectations continue to rise.

Established in 2023, Taxi Barok has built its business mainly around street hails and telephone bookings. Under the new partnership, it will retain its own brand, customer relationships and local operations while moving its rider and driver apps, booking and dispatch, pricing, business accounts and operational reporting onto one integrated system.

Dezmaric said the company's experience with traditional taxi services made eCabs Technologies an appealing partner.

"They understand how street hails, phone bookings and app bookings need to work together, and the experience customers and drivers now expect. Having their team here in Varaždin working alongside ours during the switch has been a valuable part of that partnership," he said.

The launch marks the company's second operational city partnership in the country, following Taxi Fiume's launch in Rijeka in August

The launch follows eCabs Technologies' expansion into Rijeka with Taxi Fiume in August. A third Croatian city partner has also signed an agreement and is preparing to launch in the coming weeks, although the company has not named the location.

eCabs Technologies is the St Julian’s-based software company behind the eCabs platform, which provides dispatch technology, rider and driver apps, fleet management and reporting. Its technology powers the eCabs operation in Malta and serves operators with live or onboarding partnerships in 15 cities across 13 countries.

CEO and co-founder Matthew Bezzina said the company understood the challenges facing local taxi operators because it had started as an operator itself.

"Our role is to give them the technology and support to do that," Bezzina said, referring to the need for taxi businesses to protect their existing services while growing app bookings and improving the experience for passengers and drivers.

Taxi Barok has also adopted car livery in the same style as eCabs Malta, Blue in Romania and RooRides in Australia. The shared design creates a visual link between the company's city partners while allowing each operator to retain its own identity.

Bezzina said the company was building momentum in the region, with Taxi Fiume operating in Rijeka, Taxi Barok now live in Varaždin and a third Croatian partnership preparing to launch.

The expansion follows another development announced last month, when eCabs Technologies integrated Revolut as a payment service provider. The integration gives operators using its ride-hailing platform the option of processing customer payments through the London-based fintech.