Meet Oiii, the New Uber-Like Taxi Service Now Driving Around Melbourne's Streets

We all know the feeling when Uber's hitting you with surge pricing and there's not a taxi in sight. But Melburnians now have another option for getting around town, with government-approved taxi service Oiii launching in the city yesterday.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the company is rolling out 50 of its new multi-coloured cars over the coming weeks, with plans to have over 1000 vehicles on Melbourne roads by June. You'll find them at regular cab ranks, or you can hail them down from the street or order one using the Oiii app.

Founder Dennis Jeffees was inspired by the new technology being used by ridesharing services like Uber and has spent the past few years developing his own. The result is a service that operates with ratings for both users and drivers, has zero surcharges, offers fixed-priced tariffs and even boasts free wi-fi in each car.

The company's making the most of recent legislative changes, which no longer require taxi licences to be purchased. It'll have primary operators, who'll pay $800 to kit out their car and another $260 a month to drive it, with a 10 percent commission on jobs through the app, as well as secondary operators, who'll be able to use the app in their existing cabs.

Once Oiii is settled in Melbourne, the service is expected to roll out across all other states.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald. Image: Savio Sebastian via Flickr.