SYDNEY, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- An Australian-owned company GoCatch is taking on Uber in Queensland as the American ride-sharing app becomes legalized in the state on Monday.
GoCatch, which was founded in 2011, said on Monday that it had extended its phone app taxi-booking service to include ride-sharing services after Uber was legalised in the state.
GoCatch chief executive officer David Holmes told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio on Monday that their app, a similar format to Uber's, has effectively been competing against the American ride-sharing app.
"We're a private Australian company with Australian investment," Holmes said.
"It's why we've taken so long, we were in Australia well before Uber arrived," he said.
"It's very much around the Australian economy and Australian big businesses are helping us along the way," Holmes said.
Holmes said his company, which now offers a choice between booking a taxi or a ride-sharing vehicle, is not trying to disrupt the taxi industry but rather complement it.
"We're not trying to disrupt the taxi industry, we're just trying to help everyone be more efficient at what they do," Holmes said.
Meanwhile, Yellow Cabs Queensland general manager Bill Parker told the Australian Associated Press that drivers were concerned that their business had been handed to "an American organisation that doesn't believe it should be paying tax."
Queensland taxi drivers were set to gather at parliament house on Monday morning to show their disappointment at legalising Uber, said Parker.
Last month, the Queensland state government announced its intention to legalise Uber with a 100 million Australian dollars (75.94 million U.S. dollars) transition package, including a hardship fund and compensation for existing cab drivers.
