Items tagged with taxi
If the trick in life is to never take yourself too seriously, then Lyft should do fine in the long run, despite being an underdog to Uber. That's because the ride sharing service put itself on the map with furry pink mustaches attached to the front of drivers' cars. Call it a gimmick if you wish, but it worked, though the carstache as you know it is evolving. Meet the latest incarnation called the Glowstache. "The Glowstache will be debuting in different cities at different times, so stay tuned for news about when it’s coming to you," Lyft stated in a blog post. "Craving more Lyft swag? Head to ShopLyft to stock up in the meantime. With the Glowstache’s introduction comes...
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Despite the negative press over class action lawsuits and questionable tactics, Uber wants cities to know that it can be of benefit, not just to people in need of a ride from point A to point B, but also in shaping more efficient transportation. Uber's pitch is that its level of data collection is unmatched and can be of great benefit to municipal partners. "To date, most cities have not had access to granular data describing the flows and trends of private traffic. The data provided by Uber will help policymakers and city planners develop a more detailed understanding of where people in the city need to go and how to improve traffic flows and congestion to get them there,"...
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For consumers, a service like Uber offers a number of benefits, with a big one being convenience. But, with that convenience brings a large number of caveats, some of which we've seen exhibited over the past couple of months. Take, for example, an executive that encourages digging up dirt on journalists that are critical of the company, or the fact that the company will invoke surge pricing during emergencies. And we can’t forget that ridiculous "safe rides fee". For these and other reasons, many have issues with Uber -- especially some countries overseas that have decided to prohibit the company from operating within their borders. And, I'm sure it wouldn't surprise...
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Three Uber riders experienced one of the worst-case scenarios skeptics of the rideshare service--a high-speed car chase and a (brief) de facto kidnapping--during a visit to the Washington, D.C. area. The Washington Post reports that Ryan Simonetti, co-founder of a company called Convene, and two colleagues hailed an Uber car after a meeting, and despite noting that a D.C. taxi inspector was talking to the driver, they hopped in. It appears that the driver decided at that time, with his documents in the hands of the inspector, to make a break for it with the three passengers on board. The inspector turned on his siren and followed, and the Uber driver led him on an 8-10-minute chase that...
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Hailing a taxi used to be a frustrating affair, but now, it's as easy as pulling up an app and tapping a screen... in select cities, that is. Uber has taken off in a major way, and it's expanding fairly rapidly. But obviously, the market is big enough for other players to step in, and that's exactly what's happening with the introduction of Way2ride. VeriFone Systems has this week announced the new app, which allows New York City taxi passengers to get in, tap, and get out the moment their ride is over. Way2ride, currently available for iOS and Android smartphones, doesn't require NFC or any other tap-to-pay technologies. Once inside the cab, passengers can pay at any time with a tap of their...
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It seems like such an obvious feature, but Uber's car-hailing app did not have a way to easily split fares until this week. Now, at last, users can ride together without worrying about settling up later. Now, riders can just request a pick-up, tap the 'up arrow' near the driver information, tap the 'Split Fare' option, select your friend and hit 'Send.' Then, your friend will get a notification that someone is about to split a fare with them, and then can accept or reject. (But don't worry, they'll accept.) It's the latest feature to an app + service that's truly disrupting the taxi industry at large. Still, pricing remains fairly high, but as soon as normal yellow cabs can become an integral...
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Cabs really haven't changed much over the years. Sure, some of them now accept credit cards, and some of them arrive when you hail via your smartphone, but by and large things are mostly the same as they always have been. But now, it feels like the future is finally catching up with the taxi business. The city of London already has a growing network of free Wi-Fi hotspots, but taking them into the cab would certainly be a new approach. Reportedly, Eyetease has secured approval to equip taxis with Wi-Fi antennas that would give riders 15 minutes of gratis Internet for sitting through a 15 second advertisement. The antenna will hop between 3G and 4G towers as the vehicle moves about, in theory...
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All right, readers, we're sure some among you participate in the downloading of somewhat dicey material (read: copyrighted). If you could have a license to illegally download as much as you wanted - and yes, we suppose, if you had a license, it would no longer be illegal - how would you feel about it?On the other hand, if you had to pay such a fee (tax?) even if you didn't download illegally, how would you feel about it?Those are the questions on the table as rumors fly about such a possible fee in the U.K. The Independent reports that today John Hutton, the Business Secretary, and Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, will unveil proposals which include ISPs sending letters to thousands of repeat...
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