Our story

We exist because the system is broken.

idle, the ethical ride-hailing company, was built in response to a simple, repeated observation: the platforms extracting value from drivers had made themselves indispensable. We built a way out.

i. The mission

Structurally different, not just differently branded.

The problem with the ride-hailing industry isn't the branding. It's the business model. Strip away the logos and the marketing language, and every major platform operates on the same extraction principle: take a percentage of every fare the driver earns.

idle was built from a different premise entirely. Drivers pay a flat daily subscription and keep virtually everything they earn. idle takes 0% commission, with only the standard 1.5% + 20p per transaction card-processing fee charged by Stripe. The platform's revenue does not grow when drivers work harder. That structural difference changes everything.

idle holds hire operator licences with Sefton Council and Liverpool City Council. We are a licensed, regulated operator, not a technology loophole.

0%
Commission taken from drivers
£7
Flat daily subscription fee
2
UK licences held
100%*
Of fares kept by drivers from idle

*idle charges 0% commission. The only deduction is the standard card-processing fee (1.5% + 20p per transaction) charged by our payment provider, Stripe, never by idle. Drivers keep 100% of their fare from idle.

ii. A letter from the founder
To our drivers, riders, and everyone who believes in a fairer way,

It started in the back of a cab. Then another. And another. Across dozens of rides, the conversation kept returning to the same place: the platform is taking too much. I'm working longer and longer just to take home less and less.

I'm not a tech founder who spotted a market gap. I'm someone who sat with that frustration repeatedly, heard it from real people doing real work, and couldn't stop thinking about the fact that nobody was actually trying to solve it.

The existing alternatives aren't alternatives. They look different. They talk differently. But underneath the bonnet, they run the same model: extract a percentage, scale the extraction, call it a marketplace. The driver is the product, not the customer.

idle is my answer to that. A flat fee. Zero commission. Your earnings are yours. Not because it's good PR, but because it's the only model that puts drivers first by design rather than by accident.

We're licensed across the Liverpool City Region. We have real licences from real councils. We're building something that can go national. And we're doing it because the industry needs someone to prove that ethical can also be sustainable, that you don't have to exploit your drivers to run a successful ride-hailing business.

This is just the beginning. Thank you for being part of it.

Guy
Founder & CVO, idle
Registered Company No. 16312217
iii. Our journey

From conversation to company.

2022
The spark

The problem becomes undeniable

Repeated conversations with private hire drivers across the UK crystallise a clear picture: the commission extraction model is breaking livelihoods. The conviction that someone needs to build an alternative takes hold.

2024
Foundation

The model is designed

The 0% commission, flat-subscription model is developed and stress-tested. Legal structure established. Early conversations with licensing authorities begin. The core principle is locked in: driver earnings are never shared with the platform.

2025
Beta

Beta proves the demand

idle's beta launches and early results confirm the appetite for a fair, zero-commission platform. The learnings from this phase shape the rebuild that follows.

2026
Rebuild

Rebuilt and refocused on Merseyside

idle secures hire operator licences with Sefton Council and Liverpool City Council and rebuilds the platform in-house from the ground up. Focused, licensed, and ready.

7 Sept 2026
Live now

Live in the Liverpool City Region

iv. Our values

What we stand for.

01

Structural fairness

Fair isn't a word we use in marketing. It's an engineering constraint. The model is designed so that driver success and platform success are the same thing, not in opposition.

02

Radical transparency

Every fare is visible to driver and rider. Every fee is stated upfront. There are no hidden deductions, no algorithmic surprises, no percentages extracted after the fact.

03

Driver as person

The Wellbeing: Beyond the Wheel resources exist because driving is a whole human experience. Mental health, financial resilience, community and physical health are all part of the idle offer. This is something we hope to build on as we grow.

04

Licensed. Regulated. Real.

idle is not a technology workaround. We hold hire operator licences in the Liverpool City Region. We operate within regulation, not around it, because legitimacy is the foundation of trust.

v. Our licences

Licensed in the Liverpool City Region.

idle holds full hire operator licences. We are a regulated operator, not a platform acting outside the system.

Sefton Council
Hire Operator Licence
Active & Licensed
Liverpool City Council
Hire Operator Licence
Active & Licensed
Knowsley Council
Hire Operator Licence
Coming Soon
Sources & references

The numbers behind the case.

Every commission and earnings figure on this page is drawn from independent research and idle's own pricing. Figures are indicative and compiled from third-party sources; full citations are available on request.

  1. 1Platform commission rates. Uber's standard UK rate is around 25% of the fare, and Uber's own updated UK driver terms confirm a per-trip service fee of between 3% and 49%; Bolt charges 15–20% depending on city. Effective deductions climb higher once VAT, waiting time and surcharges are added. See the Fairwork Project, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (fair.work), corroborated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and independent driver-earnings analyses. Sources: company driver terms & published rates.
  2. 2Card-processing fee (1.5% + 20p per transaction). Stripe: published UK pricing. This is the only deduction from a driver's fare; idle never takes commission.
  3. 3idle's pricing model (0% commission, 100% of fare to driver from idle, £7/day). idle's own subscription pricing. The only deduction is the standard Stripe card-processing fee (1.5% + 20p per transaction), charged by Stripe, never by idle.