By Sonya Davidson
This morning in Toronto, cabbies are staging a demonstration to push city officials for more regulations on car-on-demand app-based service Uber. As they clog up major routes into the city core, taxi drivers are speaking on the morning news about how approximately 50% of their fares have been lost since consumers have been switching over to Uber services.
As an Uber customer since it first arrived in Toronto, I can say that the concept is great. No cash exchange is needed when I'm out so I'm not having to worry what's in my wallet. Knowing that I can call up a cab or car easily using the app is great and now that we're becoming more of a cash-less society it makes sense (btw, credit card information is stored with Uber's head office). Being able to get the driver's phone number, cab number, and photo is handy especially getting home late night and in turn, drivers also have your number in case they need to find you at a busy corner. It seems like an ideal business model.
But it's not flawless. There have been an increase of frustration on both sides of the taxi stand and today we are hearing it again from taxi drivers.
Cabbies, who are not registered with Uber, are demanding more regulations and consumers agree but we are also scratching their heads wondering why can't the cab companies like Beck, Co-op and Royal Taxi set up their own app system to go head to head with Uber? Let's face it, as a consumer the main reason of using Uber is the convenience of not having to carry cash or pull out a credit card for every ride.
Enter eCab - a universal smartphone app (free) that is now available with Royal Taxi. Just in time for the holidays, you can now book a Royal Taxi via the app, track the taxi in real-time, pre-book or book on the spot and have a choice to pay (either directly with the driver or via cashless set up on the app).
The app appears to work just like Uber and I'll be checking it out this week. eCab launched in 2014 in Europe by French taxi company G7 and is a global alliance of taxi companies. It is currently in more than 30 cities around the world including Europe and India. After a successful launch and operations in Vancouver last August (4 taxi companies joined forces with them), this app originating from France, now extends its services to Toronto to provide legally regulated taxi service to the city.