Edition 01 · Tyne & Wear
Newcastle launch · 2026
A British ride-hailing app · est. 2026

Bustle.

Your driver keeps every penny.

A proper British ride-hailing app. Drivers pay one flat subscription — no commission, ever. You pay a small booking fee. 75p on short trips, £1 on longer ones. That's the lot.

Join the waitlist See the maths
Commission
0%
To driver
100%
Booking fee from
75p
Driver subscription
£99/mo
The status quo

Other apps take
up to 49%
of every fare.

That fare your driver earned. The money goes to a holding company in the Netherlands, then on to shareholders in San Francisco. It doesn't pay a British mortgage. It doesn't fill a Newcastle pint. We thought it was time someone said something — and built something.

Source · Uber UK driver T&Cs (2026) Source · University of Oxford (2025) Receipt-grade transparency · always

Three numbers.
No asterisks.

§ 02 / How Bustle works
Issue №. 01
For drivers

One flat fee.
Keep every fare.

A flat monthly subscription. No per-trip cut, no hidden deductions, no dynamic-pricing sleight of hand. Cancel any time.

100% of the fare
Issue №. 02
For passengers

From 75p to book.
Meter rates after.

One booking fee, printed on your receipt — 75p on fares under £15, £1 on fares £15 and over. No surge, no service charge, no "convenience fee" that isn't.

75p · £1
Issue №. 03
For us

Zero commission.
Ever.

We make money from subscriptions and a small booking fee — never from skimming a percentage off working people. The maths doesn't change when you're busy.

0% · for good
Feature 03 — The Maths Quayside → Gosforth · 3.2 mi P. 003 / 011

Same journey.
Different maths.

By Bustle.cab Newcastle · Friday evening ~9pm Modest surge · ×1.3

One ride. Two receipts. A four-mile bend up the Great North Road on a wet Friday at nine, with a modest evening surge running on every other app in town. Look what each side of the transaction actually walks away with — printed, line by line, on the only document the industry agrees never to show you.

Standard commission app
Receipt 0001
Quayside → Gosforth · 3.2 mi · 13 min
£13.00
Fare incl. dynamic pricing surge ×1.3
  • Platform commission 25–49%
  • Service / booking fee included
  • Surge multiplier ×1.30
Driver keeps £6.63 – £9.75
You save £0.00
Bustle.
Receipt 0001 · NE1
Quayside → Gosforth · 3.2 mi · 13 min
£10.75
Metered fare · no surge · ever
  • Platform commission £0.00
  • Booking fee (to us) 75p
  • Surge multiplier ×1.00
Driver keeps £10.00
You save £2.25

The driver wins at any commission rate in the standard app's stated 25–49% range. The passenger wins because there's no surge to begin with. Sources: Uber's 2026 UK driver terms confirm service fees "can range from 3% to 49%"; the University of Oxford's 2025 study of 1.5 million UK Uber trips put the average effective commission at 29%.

§ 04 / Built & owned in Britain

Built in Britain.
Owned in Britain.

Every pound that stays with a Geordie driver goes back into a Geordie pub, a Geordie barber, a Geordie Sunday roast. That's how local economies used to work — before platforms started treating communities like supply chains. We're proper. We're staying proper.

RegisteredNewcastle
Licenced byNewcastle CC
Tax paidHere, in full
§ 05 / Newcastle first

We're starting on the Toon.

Newcastle's where we live, where we drink, and where we think ride-hailing went wrong. So it's where we're fixing it. Other cities to follow — Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow, then south.

  • Q2 · 2026Driver onboarding opens across Tyneside
  • Summer · 2026Passenger app goes live in Newcastle & Gateshead
  • 2027Expansion across the North — Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester
  • 2028Glasgow, Edinburgh, then south
Get early access

Asked.
Answered properly.

§ 06 — Frequently put to us
We're opening driver sign-ups across Tyneside in Q2 2026 and switching on the passenger app over the summer. Sign up to the early access list and you'll be among the first to know the exact date.
If you've got a valid Hackney or PHV licence from Newcastle City Council (or a neighbouring authority), you're eligible. We'll ask for your badge, insurance, MOT and a bank account. First month is free, then £99/month as a Founding Driver — locked in for life. See pricing.
Yes — completely. We're a private hire operator licensed by Newcastle City Council. The subscription model has been used by minicab associations for decades; we've just built a better app around it. Passenger fares are metered in line with local authority rules.
Tips go 100% to the driver, same as everything else. We don't do surge pricing — fares are calculated on distance and time at council-approved rates, whether it's a wet Friday in December or a quiet Tuesday in April.
Drivers carry their own private hire insurance — same as on every other platform. Bustle Premium drivers get Group Personal Accident, Loss-of-Licence, Legal Expenses and Breakdown cover bundled in. Details on the pricing page.
For now, Bustle only operates in Newcastle and surrounding Tyneside. We're expanding city by city across the North through 2027, then heading south. Pop your postcode in the waitlist below and we'll let you know when we reach you.
Driver subscriptions (£99/month for Founding Drivers) and the passenger booking fee — 75p on fares under £15, £1 on fares £15 and over. That's the lot. Our incentive is more happy drivers, not bigger bites out of every trip. Read the full booking-fee explanation.

Be among the first.

Drivers and passengers — pop your details in. We'll keep you posted, and you'll be first through the door when we open in Newcastle.

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Your postcode · 3 of 3
That doesn't look like a UK postcode.
We'll let you know when we reach your area.

Brilliant. You're on the list.

We'll be in touch when Newcastle goes live.