Vancouver’s taxi companies are launching an app that allows customers to order cabs from their smartphones – offering the same sort of easy-to-use technology that has fuelled Uber’s success while continuing their campaign to keep the controversial ride-sharing service shut out of the city.
The city’s four major cab providers – Yellow Cab, Black Top & Checker Cabs, MacLure’s Cabs and Vancouver Taxi – are launching the eCab app on Wednesday. The app, which is already in use in a number of European cities, allows customers to hail a taxi, track the car, pay with their credit card and rate the driver.
Similar features have contributed to Uber’s popularity, though the cab companies – which have publicly opposed Uber and launched a short-lived court challenge last year – insist their new app isn’t related.
IAN BAILEY – Globe and Mail – Sep. 15, 2015.
Want More Investigative Content?
Good for them for making an effort to fight it with value and customer service rather than showing up to protest Uber wearing no shirts and eating pizza like Edmonton