A longtime Hawaii transportation executive is boldly bringing a new ride-hailing company to the Hawaii market at a time when the road ahead has more barriers to entry than just the pandemic.

Cecil Morton, who has been in the tourism transportation business in Hawaii for 20 years on four islands as owner of SpeediShuttle, is launching driver recruitment for holoholo today at driveholoholo.com.

Ridership is expected to begin later this month, rolling out across Oahu, Maui, Hawaii island, Kauai and Lanai. Holoholo will pick up at seven airports across Hawaii.

“It’s our David and Goliath story,” said Morton, who said he’s been eyeing an entry into the ride-hailing market since the services first disrupted ground transportation about a decade ago.

“All (ground-transportation) options were being affected by this new service. It’s fun,” he said.

Morton said getting the technology was an important step, as was recruiting Rob Mora, formerly with Lyft and Uber, to serve as his adviser and the face of the new company.

Holoholo will compete directly with other ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Lyft. However, it will attempt to distinguish itself by implementing a no-surge-pricing policy. Riders, who make smartphone pickup requests, also will be able to see the exact cost that holoholo will charge to their credit cards. Both drivers and riders will have access to 24/7 local support.

Time will tell if those differences are enough to allow holoholo to succeed in a market where even the biggest ride-hailing companies are struggling.

Morton said he’s not deterred as an “entrepreneur always pencils out success.”

“In the last year I’ve always felt we were in survival mode, now we are in recovery. To be fearless, you move forward,” he said. “This is a great service and we can roll this out. Our message is so clear. We’re focusing on safety, hookipa, focusing on supporting local communities — it’s what we’ve been doing. It’s a service type that I know through our team that we’ve built.”

While business for Uber and Lyft has been more positive lately, both suffered severe pandemic losses.

Uber Chief Investment Officer Nelson Chai stated in a November earnings release that, “Through continued strong execution and cost discipline, we remain confident in our ability to achieve quarterly adjusted EBITDA profitability before the end of 2021.”

EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, is a measure of a company’s overall financial performance.

Lyft also announced in November that it expects to have its first profitable quarter at the end of 2021, in part because of significant second quarter cost reductions.

Still, Uber reportedly lost nearly $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarter of the pandemic for many companies. Uber’s food delivery business grew as more people ordered in, but not to profitability, and certainly not enough to offset the government-ordered shutdowns that kept people home.

Lyft struggled even more than Uber during the pandemic — largely because it didn’t have Uber’s food and grocery delivery business to offset decreased travel.

Even before the pandemic, a fare war between Uber and Lyft already had exacted a toll on both ride-hailing companies. By spring of 2019, they already had reported a combined loss of $13 billion.

Historically, Uber and Lyft’s extensive losses have made competitors leery, allowing the ride-hailing giants to establish duopolies in cities across the nation.

Here in Hawaii, the ride-hailing duopoly cut deep into local taxi companies, contributing to the 2018 closure of EcoCab’s taxi operations.

Former EcoCab owner David Jung said he saw Uber and Lyft as “a tsunami. You can’t swim against it, so you get the heck out of there.”

Jung said market disrupters Uber and Lyft weren’t profitable, but they had deep enough pockets to stay the course long after the little guys bowed out.

“They will tell you right off the bat that they can lose billions more dollars,” he said.

Jung lobbied hard to get the city to regulate ride-hailing. Some concessions were made, but in the end, Jung decided it wasn’t prudent for EcoCab’s taxi operations to continue to try to compete against Uber and Lyft.

He kept EcoCab for a time by pivoting to providing transportation services for the disabled, but later sold the company.

Jung now owns CityTaxi, a company that he bought after ride-hailing wounded it. Jung said that he has made CityTaxi work by turning it into a niche operation that provides rides for the homeless under a city contract

Jung said he’s long respected Morton, who first entered the Hawaii ground transportation scene in 1999 when he rolled out SpeediShuttle on Maui and quickly grew the business.

SpeediShuttle entered Hawaii island shortly after its Maui entry and in 2007 expanded to Oahu and Kauai. The company has contracts for on-demand shuttle services at the Kahului and Honolulu airports. It has contracts with many hospitality companies across the islands and about 3-1/2 years ago got into the tour business when it opened ‘imiTours.

“Cecil’s first big splash on Oahu was beating out Roberts. Instead of using coach buses, he introduced the concept of using Sprinters (vans) and being more flexible and scalable. He was able to sell the airport on it,” Jung said. “I would describe Cecil as a pretty bold, adventurous entrepreneur.

It’s the boldness that is sufficient for him to try to go head-to-head with Uber and Lyft — but they are multibillion dollar publicly traded companies,” he said.

Still, Jung said he’s surprised by Morton’s decision to take on Uber and Lyft.

“Cecil is probably pretty well capitalized. But he can’t afford to lose money at the rate that Uber and Lyft does, right?”

Mora said holoholo believes “there’s enough space for a local company to come in and really serve the needs making sure drivers have consistent pay and riders have transparency.”

Uber and Lyft have at times struggled to find enough Hawaii drivers, but Mora said he believes the pandemic downturn has made more workers available. Holoholo hopes to hire about 150 of them across the islands where it operates.

Mora said holoholo’s no-surge-pricing model, which allows drivers to know what they’ll be earning, will be a selling point.

“They’ll earn more overall,” he said.

Mora also expects drivers and riders will be drawn to a ride-hailing operation that provides 24-hour local support and has local offices.

“What sets us apart is the opportunity to be here locally and be part of the community not just an email or an empty abyss,” he said.

Morton said he’s also used his longtime transportation networks to negotiate contractor benefits such as lower gas prices and special car collision center service rates.

Drivers must have a valid Hawaii driver’s license and provide proof that they are local residents. They must be at least 21 years old or older with at least three years of driving experience. They’ll also have to pass a comprehensive background and driver history check. They must have personal vehicle insurance.

Registered personal vehicles must have a Hawaii vehicle inspection sticker. Holoholo vehicles must be 2012 or newer four-door models that can seat from four to 10 people. The company does not use limousines or trucks.

Holoholo will offer four classes of service. The basic service, holoholo, also includes add-ons such as service to military bases; and assist, which provides help to kupuna and other riders that need it.

There’s also an XL category for customers that need extra space and a luxury category.

Morton said the company also has a category that customers may request that focuses on sustainability. The company will provide more compensation to drivers who invest in green cars, he said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.