The home-work carpooling that had made Netlift so successful since 2014 is no longer. Struggling with a 95% drop in its turnover in 2020, the Montreal company announced on Wednesday its transformation into a “corporate mobility platform”, using its technology to concoct tailor-made transport networks for its client companies.
The announcement actually comes to the end of a year of transformation during which we have successfully tested this model. “In 2021, we had a 466% increase in turnover, we have greatly exceeded what we did in 2019, rejoices Marc-Antoine Ducas, co-founder and CEO of Netlift. We listen to the market, we adjust, we reposition the company. ”
Logistics nightmare
The teleworking and confinements that marked the year 2020 have practically killed the classic model of carpooling, where a worker offered with his car a transport against payment, generally between the suburbs and Montreal.
“At the height of the pandemic, even the employees of the health system, among the few who had to go to the workplace, were advised against carpooling by Public Health,” recalls Mr. Ducas.
The vaccination campaign, which officially began in Quebec on December 14, 2020, then opened up a new market for Netlift. The logistics of transporting patients, vaccines and employees were a headache for which the health network was not prepared. “Hospitals told us they were overwhelmed,” says the CEO. They used our platform, which was not created for this purpose. They tried to take a screwdriver to hammer in nails, and it worked. ”
He gives as an example one of the early clients, the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of the North of the Island of Montreal.
We are talking about 16 sites, thousands of people displaced in the context of the pandemic, screening. They had buses, shared taxis, it was a colossal logistical challenge. We were the platform that took control and redistributed it all. Without the right tools, people would have spent their days on the phone.
Marc-Antoine Ducas, co-founder and CEO of Netlift
It was a completely “unsuspected” market for Netlift, he emphasizes, which made it possible to take advantage of all the tools for geolocation, organization of schedules, appointment setting and invoicing already. used. “To be very candid, we didn’t know we were that good at it. ”
Custom network
It was then other employers, especially in the manufacturing sector, who called on Netlift to coordinate the commuting of their employees. A manufacturing company from Drummondville that had to bring in employees from Montreal every day used this platform to organize their transportation by focusing mainly on carpooling, but including travel time in working hours.
We are now creating a transport network for the employer; we use cars, taxis, buses. For example, we can sign contracts with companies managing buses such as La Québécoise or Galland. We really become an intermediary.
Marc-Antoine Ducas, co-founder and CEO of Netlift
The old formula of Netlift, based on commitments between consumers, is no longer viable, believes the CEO. “It’s impossible to be profitable. There is no consumer who is going to want to pay $ 40 for their trip, and motorists are not going to lifts at $ 1.59. We tried to find a formula with the Government of Quebec, to no avail. There is no appetite in Quebec for solutions like this. ”
The official transformation of the Montreal company comes two days after Revenu Québec’s announcement requiring any driver of a transport company like Uber, Eva or Netlift to issue an invoice to their customers. Mr. Ducas assures us that this is “a coincidence of the calendar” and that this obligation does not hinder the activities of Netlift. “We did not decide to adapt our business on this. ”