A local alternative to the apps
Original Drivers helps Cambridge’s licensed, independent taxi drivers get found and booked directly — so passengers get a trusted local driver, and drivers keep every fare.
Why we started
Ride-hailing apps made booking a car easy and made being a driver worse. Drivers hand over 25–30% of each fare, take prices they don’t set, and never meet the customer twice. Passengers, meanwhile, get a faceless stranger and a surge price on the night they most need a ride. Something that should be deeply local — a driver who knows the roads, the airport runs, the school gates — had been turned into an anonymous transaction.
We started in Cambridge because local is where this is won. A licensed Cambridge driver is checked and badged by the city council, knows the quickest way to Addenbrooke’s and the timing for a 6am Stansted run, and — given the tools — can build a business on regulars instead of an algorithm. Original Drivers is those tools: a public booking page, direct enquiries, income and compliance tracking, WhatsApp bookings. No commission on a single journey.
Trusted local providers, by design
We take the “trusted” part seriously, because it’s the whole promise. We don’t accept just anyone. Every driver listed is council-licensed, DBS-checked and insured — the same standards a licensing officer can ask to see at any moment — and we make those credentials visible rather than hidden behind a rating. When you book through Original Drivers you’re booking a vetted local professional directly, and paying them directly.
That’s better for everyone. Passengers get accountability and a driver they can rebook by name. Drivers get to keep the customer they earned. And Cambridge keeps its money and its expertise local, rather than sending a cut to a head office somewhere else.
Local, not faceless
The person driving you should be a name and a number, not a rotating stranger from an app. Every driver on Original Drivers is licensed by their council, lives and works in Cambridge or a nearby town, and you contact them directly.
Trusted, licensed providers
We don't let anyone list. Every driver is council-licensed, DBS-checked and insured before they ever appear — the same standards an enforcement officer checks. Trust isn't a badge we award; it's the licence they already hold, made visible.
Drivers keep their customers
We take no commission on any journey, ever. The fare goes to the driver, the customer relationship belongs to the driver, and a good trip turns into a regular — not a one-off an algorithm forgets.
Built for the long term
This is infrastructure for independent drivers to run a real business — bookings, invoicing, compliance, reminders — not a race to the cheapest fare. We'd rather a smaller network of drivers people rebook than a big one they don't remember.
What we’re not
Original Drivers is a profile and request tool — we are never the operator of the journey. We don’t dispatch, meter, set fares or take a cut of them. The licensed driver you contact confirms availability and price and runs the trip. We just help the two of you find each other.
Where we operate
Cambridge is our home and our pilot. We’re expanding driver by driver across the towns around it:
Find a local licensed Cambridge driver and book direct ›
List your taxi free and keep 100% of every fare ›
Questions? Email [email protected].