Archive for Hailo

Hailo Offers Up $5 Credit To Those Impacted By The Ice Storm

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 27, 2013 by itnerd

The holiday season has been difficult for many in Toronto and the broader area as the ice storm that hit the area continues to keep many in the dark due to a loss of hydro and without heat. That means that you might have to get yourself to a friend or family member’s residence, or to one of the city run warming centers. Hailo is trying to help with that  by offering a $5 credit towards “unplanned local travel” caused by power outages, tree damage and cancelled flights.Simply enter the “WINTER5TOR” promo code into the iOS or Android version of the app and the credit will apply to any Hailo cab ride prior to midnight, Monday, December 30th.

Kudos to Hailo for doing this.

Leave a comment »

Review: Hailo For iOS Version 3.1 [UPDATED]

Posted in Products with tags on November 11, 2013 by itnerd

Today and tomorrow I’m travelling to the US to see a couple of customers. This gives me a good opportunity to try out some tech that I’ve never used before, plus revisit some tech that I’ve written about in the past and pass along some tips. One thing that I’ve never had the chance to use before is Hailo which is an app that allows you to get a taxi and pay for it using your smartphone (iOS and Android versions are available). I used it for the first time today as my wife didn’t feel like getting up at 3AM to drive me to the airport and it was dead easy to use.

After downloading the app, you enter a credit card into the app. That way you never have to exchange cash with the driver or hand over your credit card to him or her. Payment right down to the tip is done electronically. Once that’s done, it uses the GPS functions of your phone to determine your current location and you can get a cab in two taps. So that you know who’s picking you up, you get a picture of the driver and the cab number. You can even phone the cab if you want. And according to the company, they also individually approve each driver. That creates a really good sense of security.

Once you’ve virtually hailed your cab, you can see it on a map head to your location in almost real time. When it is about a minute away, it will warn you that the cab is approaching. That’s a handy feature. You get in, travel to your destination and en-route you can pick your tip level and upon arrival rate your driver and pay. You can classify it as business or personal and you can get an invoice e-mailed to you.

Gripes? Only two. One of the things that the app can do for you is to help you to pick the destination. However I could not pick Pearson Airport. I could only pick the street address for one of the buildings on the airport grounds. the second gripe was that when I went to pay, the app quit unexpectedly. The payment process worked as the cab driver got paid and I got an invoice, but this is clearly a bug that needs to be addressed.

Hailo is currently available in London, New York, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Dublin, Cork, Madrid, Barcelona and Osaka. It’s coming next to Montreal and Tokyo as well. If you’re in one of those cities, you should have a look at Hailo if you have an iPhone or an Android phone. The app for the most part does deliver on its promise to make it easy and safe to grab a cab and pay for it.

UPDATE: Version 3.2 was released after I wrote this review. It now has a feature called Places which uses Foursquare’s extensive database of locations to make it easier to find places you’re looking for. I haven’t tested it. But I will and I’ll write an updated review.

Leave a comment »

Toronto Taxi Company Afraid Of Apps Like Hailo & Uber?

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , on August 27, 2013 by itnerd

I’ve written about Hailo which is an app that allows you to get a cab and pay for it using your smartphone. There’s a second app called Uber that does the same thing and clearly, these apps make some people nervous. An example of this comes from a story in The Toronto Star where a taxi driver was essentially “exiled” from Toronto taxi company Beck Taxi for using these apps to find customers. Here’s the thing, what he was doing was not illegal:

Sheikh Imran likened it to a “police interrogation,” but he hadn’t broken the law: The Beck Taxi driver had used two smartphone applications to find people to ride in his cab.

For refusing to stop, his punishment was exile.

“They took my car. They took my radio service. Everything,” said Imran, nearly a week after the day that he claims he was called into Beck head office and grilled about his use of the taxi for Hailo and Uber calls. Beck policy is to forbid drivers from finding fares with smartphone apps made by other companies — even though it’s legal for cabbies to do so.

Imran said he hasn’t been able to work since the backroom meeting on Aug. 20 — which he said was video-recorded like a “police interrogation” — claiming he’s been blocked from picking up his rented taxi and kicked off the Beck dispatch system.

“I’m being deprived of my livelihood,” said Imran, 44. “It’s a major violation of my professional rights.”

Now, I can see why Beck might get a bit concerned about him using using a third party app to get customers, seeing as they have their own iOS and Android apps that I am sure funnel pickups through their dispatch system. In fact, they say you can’t use other apps when you agree to work for them. But I have to point out that it’s not illegal for a cab driver to use one or both of these apps. So since it’s not illegal, a cab drive would be tempted to use them. After all, their income depends on being able to transport as many people as possible. Thus you can see from their perspective why using one or more of these these apps would be appealing.

Now let me circle back to the fact that it’s not illegal to use one of these apps. Here’s what the city says on this issue:

There’s no bylaw forbidding cab drivers from using more than one brokerage to find fares. But there’s also nothing stopping companies such as Beck from asking their drivers not to use the apps, said Scott Sullivan, the city’s acting manager of licensing enforcement.

“That’s not within our jurisdiction to deal with,” he said, calling Imran’s case — which the city is investigating — a matter that’s probably suited for civil courts.

So it sounds like there’s a need to adjust the laws relating to this to fit the use of apps like these and to potentially stop cab companies from treating their drivers in the way that Imran has been treated.

Now for Beck’s part, they said a bunch of things to the Toronto Star via Twitter. First was this:

Beck operations manager Kristine Hubbard responded to requests for comment on Twitter, denying knowledge of any issues with drivers and stating: “Drivers support Beck no incidents to report. Sorry.”

Then came this:

On Twitter, Hubbard — who Imran claimed was in the room when he was asked to sign the waiver — wrote “Drivers always have choices” when asked about Imran. “We have an app for use in Beck vehicles but any driver can use other apps/drive for other companies.”

But she also said this last year to the Toronto Star:

Speaking to the Star last October, Hubbard denied any cab drivers were being disciplined for using the apps, but insisted that they should only be allowed to use one dispatch company.

“When you’re in a Beck Taxi, the service being offered through the Beck Taxi radios are for Beck taxis,” she said at the time. “You work for one company or you work for another.”

One wonders what the real story is, and why this driver isn’t working as I type this.

Leave a comment »

Toronto’s Festival Of Beer Taps Hailo To Keep Attendees Safe

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 9, 2013 by itnerd

One of Toronto’s best kept secrets is the Toronto Festival of Beer which allows you to sample all sorts of beer from all over. Now they clearly don’t want people to drink and drive, so they’ve partnered with upstart taxi service Hailo to make sure that guests get home safe.

“Guest safety is our top priority — we want people to have fun, but also enjoy themselves responsibly and take all necessary precautions when arranging transportation to and from the festival,” said Les Murray, President of Toronto’s Festival of Beer. “We created this partnership with Hailo to ensure that everyone attending the festival has a way home that is safe, reliable and easy.”

I’ve written about Hailo before and I am planning to review the service shortly. If you’re going to the Festival Of Beer, download the app before you go and enjoy the festival responsibly.

Leave a comment »

Hailo Hits The Streets Of Toronto

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 14, 2012 by itnerd

Ever tried getting a cab in a busy downtown or a lightly traveled suburb? It’s a pain isn’t it? But that’s about to change. I was tipped off to a new app for iOS and Android called Hailo which is good for passengers and taxi drivers. First, here’s why it’s good for passengers:

  • Hail in two taps. With Hailo you can hail a taxi from your home, office or restaurant and watch it arrive in real time.
  • Safe and reliable. No more wandering the streets looking for a taxi. Hailo uses only licensed Toronto taxi drivers and provides every customer with the driver’s photo, first name and rating before he or she arrives to pick you up.
  • Effortless payment. Hailo’s integrated smartphone payment system means customers simply hop out of the cab at the end of a ride without having to hand over a credit card. An electronic receipt is sent immediately.

Now for the taxi drivers:

  • A lower cost burden. Currently, almost 40 cents of every dollar that a shift driver makes goes to pay people other than the driver – with Hailo, 85 cents on the dollar stays in a driver’s pocket. Hailo eliminates the need for dispatch fees and other charges so drivers pay only when they take a fare through the system.
  • An easier way to make money. Cabs run empty in Toronto about 60% of the time. By helping drivers work smarter, not harder, Hailo drivers can increase revenues by 20-30%. Plus, the Hailo network allows drivers to share information about high demand areas or traffic congestion.
  • A safer ride. Drivers know who their passengers are, eliminating fare skipping.

Sounds like a “win-win” to me. One thing to keep in mind is that Toronto is the latest city that Hailo covers. They’re also in London, New York, Dublin, Chicago and Boston. You can grab the app on the Apple App Store and on Google Play now for free. It’s also coming soon for Blackberry and Windows Phone users.

I’ll be downloading and reviewing this soon.

1 Comment »