Global taxi-hailing giant Ola has said that take-up has been so good in Exeter it wants to roll out the service in Torquay and Plymouth within the year.
Ben Legg, the UK managing director of the Uber-rival said that the city had been the 'perfect pioneer city' for its launch in the South West with thousands signing up to the app.
And he said that for city dwellers, car ownership will die out over the next 20 years, in line with Exeter's 20-year vision for a virtually carless future.
Ola UK's Ben Legg speaking at the launch of the service in Exeter
Exeter’s student population, its vibrant economy and well paid workers meant it was a perfect testing ground for its launch at the end of 2018.
Users can hail a ride by using the Ola app that handles everything from payment to sharing journey information with family and friends.
He said: "There has been a phenomenal take up from all types of customers. It has mostly been students, as we thought, because they are already comfortable with app-based services, but also young professionals and families who want to avoid parking in Exeter or to go shopping over Christmas or in the January sales.
"We know that app ride hailing works but we didn't know how people would take to it and we have not had to educate people about it as much as we thought."
He said that Ola has a hit-list of 15 towns and cities throughout the South West that it wants to start operating in within the next 12 months where 'Uber has failed to show up'.
Ola first launched in India in 2010 and currently conducts one billion rides a year around the world, with more than a million drivers and 125 million customers in over 110 cities.
In the South West, including Exeter, Bristol and Bath, more than 30,000 passengers have travelled in Ola cabs since launching three months ago - three fifths of the total passengers in the UK.
Mr Legg is leading the UK operation. He is a former Army captain, Chief Operating Officer for Google in Europe and a sales and marketing specialist for Coca Cola, leading a team of 12,000 in India.
Mr Legg said he believes the platform is a key part of the future of transport, where wide scale use of electric cars will be common place in the next five to ten years and private car use will dwindle out.
It corresponds with Exeter's 20-year vision that one day imagines how part of the now congested Exe Bridges could be replaced by a garden bridge if more people walked and cycled.
He said: "The costs of car ownership in terms of depreciation, parking and running costs means there is no point in owning one in a city, particularly when you can't drive it anywhere because of the traffic.
"More and more people see that car ownership is crazy given that you may only use it for a few hours a week.
"More and more we will get used to the concept of mobility as a service and that will change the way people live and move around the city.
"As a 20-year projection that is 100% realistic, I don't think it will happen within five or ten years because of the time it takes to change the road layout and get the right infrastructure.
"Often people change their behaviour when they come to change their car and people start to question whether they really need another one or could they just have one instead of two. And most young people now don't even consider owning a car."
Mr Legg said that the Ola-model could work anywhere including in rural areas but there has to be enough to keep drivers in work.
He said: "I'd like to think we could be everywhere and friends of mine who live in the country say they would love the service where they live. Hopefully that will come over time but that's a long term vision of 10-20 years."
Plans to develop the service include the introduction of more electric vehicles and the development of child safe services - everything from child safety seats to having drivers with childcare qualifications.
"We estimate that around 20-30% of journeys are parents just ferrying their kids around. We've got to change that," he said.
