A platform just said out loud what the walled garden costs
Gett is adding a private hire option to its app, fulfilled by drivers on FreeNow's platform rather than its own. The reason it gave its drivers is the interesting part: corporate customers are using business travel accounts for personal journeys and asking for more than one vehicle type — and those who cannot find what they need are moving to rival apps. Black cabs stay the primary option; the private hire work goes elsewhere. Keeping the passenger mattered more than keeping the job.
It works because Lyft owns both companies. Everyone else has the same problem and no sister company to hand it to: demand arrives for a vehicle you do not have, and the options are to buy a second fleet, or watch the customer leave. Most operators quietly choose the second and call it focus.
Where we sit
Almost nobody can acquire their way to a second vehicle type, and nobody should have to. What the rest of the market is missing is not the idea — it is somewhere to send the work that does not belong to a competitor.
That is the transaction Omnia makes available without the merger. A platform holding demand it cannot cover can offer that work to operators it has approved, and earn from the jobs it would otherwise turn away. Each side decides for itself who can see its work, and no customer list changes hands. You should not need a common owner to pass a job to someone who can do it.