Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt Lopez, founder of ride-sharing enterprise Auro Travel, talks more about what the ridesharing company does and how it can supply his company with the labor it needs to thrive.
Alejandro Betancourt is the founder of Auro Travel, a ride-share company similar to Uber. As the largest shareholder in the company, Betancourt has built Auro on the back of research and risks.
When Uber started making headlines, he recognized that ride-sharing services could fill a huge hole in Spain. On the other hand, a limited number of licenses could also impact how many vehicle owners or operators could even enter the market.
He decided to take a chance by acquiring these licenses long before they became as popular as they are now. It was a big investment, but one that Betancourt did his due diligence before making.
He’s ultimately glad he did. With the rise of companies like Auro Travel, Alejandro Betancourt can start building the company’s business plan to meet emerging needs. Now is the time to connect passengers with the vehicles and drivers they need to get around.
Stocked with 2,000 Licenses
By definition, ride-sharing services are immediate. People might be too inebriated to drive home, they might not have time to wait for a traditional taxi, or they might just want to leave the driving to someone else. In the capital and other major cities in Spain, Alejandro Betancourt already sees demand and only anticipates more in the future.
Said Betancourt, “I see many ways we can grow. While the number of licenses is capped, we have around 2,000 of them, making us one of the biggest players in the area, mainly in Madrid. However, we are in the process of launching our own app, which will create opportunities for us to be an operator ourselves, not just providing licenses to other operators. I see us expanding beyond Spain and even challenging the big transportation players in Europe.”
A Beta App in Play
Alejandro Betancourt is exploring Auro’s place in the market right now. The company currently has a beta app in place that people can download, even if it’s not officially being advertised just yet. This experimental phase is to ensure that the company’s product is as functional as it can be before it launches. Thankfully, the pandemic is giving Betancourt some time to try different things before introducing it en masse.
The company also has 2,000 vehicles in its possession. When travel begins to pick back up again, Auro Travel is going to have a lot of requests to fill in this labor sector.
Drivers can work their own hours and set their own wages. They can pick up a few jobs a month or turn it into more of a full-time gig for themselves. It explains why investors have been so quick to jump onboard, particularly when the pandemic has accelerated a need for more on-demand services.