A History of Driver Dave’s

Driver Dave

In March 2008, Dave’s newly retired father took a flight out of YHZ. Upon departure, he left his car in his Dave’s driveway on Jubilee Road. At this time, Dave was in his second year of his undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University & King’s. Earlier in the academic year, Dave had intermittently been driving his own old junky Subaru. Everytime that he did, his friends, roommates and their friends would ask him for a ride to the airport. For a minor contribution of gas money, he obliged.

Halifax is a university town where the majority of students fly both internationally, and from other parts of Canada to attend school. The airport is also far from the city, with no adequate public transport and a fractured, inefficient taxi system that has existed without improvement for decades.

So, when Dave’s father left him with a (much less junky) Subaru, entrepreneurialism filled the tank. Dave’s father told him not to drive to class, but he never mentioned anything about driving to the airport.

Six weeks and 20,000kms later, the business “Driver Dave’s” was born with airport rides being offered for $30. However, Dave quickly noted that more than one person would request nearly the same time for pickup. As such, Dave started grouping customers together and consequently the concept of the door-to-door shuttle was born.

By the time Dave finished his undergraduate degree, he had built a team of drivers and acquired thousands of happy customers. Through excellent service, exceptional communication and intelligent logistics Dave built a business model based on reliability. This paired with the prioritization of students meant that word of mouth grew the business quite effectively. Dave and his team built trust and integrity into Driver Dave’s.

Despite leaving Halifax from 2012 to 2019 to operate his farm and grocery store in New Brunswick, Driver Dave’s not only continued to exist, but grew to drive more than 30,000 passengers annually.

Dave has long lamented his inability to focus on the potential of Driver Dave’s because agriculture has always been his main passion. However, he has simultaneously admired the business’s ability to grow without the focus and entrepreneurial input it deserves. Imagine what it could become if it were someone’s baby.

This brings us to introduce Rick Scott, the new owner of Driver Dave’s. Under Rick’s leadership, Driver Dave’s is poised to become an Atlantic Canadian leader in transportation. Rick has big plans for Driver Dave’s.

Driver Dave’s uses the best quality snow tires available. In our network fleet, we have multiple 4-wheel drive SUV’s, as well as minivans and cars. These vehicles are licensed by HRM for limo/tax service and safety inspected annually. With a fleet that has four-wheel drive capabilities, we are ready for the roads when Halifax weather conditions are less than favourable. For the safety of our passengers and our drivers, when road conditions are extreme enough to cancel most flights, we may limit our service.

During periods of high customer volume, we also have partnerships with bus companies. These vehicles are fully licensed as commercial vehicles by the Motor Carrier Division of the Public Utilities and Review Board, which also means these vehicles go through a strict safety and mechanical inspection every six months. Also in each vehicle is a Nova Scotia Class 3 First Aid Kit, three reflective road triangles, a seatbelt cutter and a fire extinguisher.

All vehicles carry commercial insurance.

Every time Driver Dave’s fills a vehicle, it saves at least one engine from running. Saving 6 engines from running and every 100 trips we save 4 tons of carbon. Taxis usually serve 1-2 people at a time, whereas Driver Dave’s aims to utilize all seven to ten passenger seatbelts.