Taxi sharing service Abel, launched by public transport group Transdev as an alternative to Uber, is pulling out of Amsterdam.

The app-based taxi firm says ‘hefty competition and overcapacity in the Amsterdam taxi market’ are to blame for its decision.

Transdev, the parent company of Dutch regional bus firm Connexxion, plans to use the Abel technology to improve its public transport services. In Arnhem and Nijmegen, for example, experiments are under way to allow people to reserve a seat on the bus.

Abel, which made sharing taxis central to its operation, says it has had more than 50,000 users over the past two years.