Interview with Nick Drandakis (Taxibeat) We recently had the chance to interview Nick Drandakis – the co-founder of Taxibeat.
The Athens based company was started in the beginning of this year by Nick Drandakis and Nick Damilakis, while Kostis Sakkas is also a member of the initial development team. Taxibeat aims to revolutionize the taxi industry in cities around the world. The young company enables taxi drivers to advertise their location and availability to nearby passengers who are searching for a taxi using their smartphone. The promising Greek startup received seed funding (March, 2011) from Openfund – a Seed Investment Fund based in Athens.
EU-Startups.com: When have you had the idea for Taxibeat and what made you sure it was the right one? Uber Closes Yellow Taxi Cab Service In New York City. Get Taxi shakes the world of taxi drivers. Taxis apps are now all the rage but what does that mean for traditional cabbies? - Features - Gadgets & Tech. A few years ago you would have cursed under your breath and accepted a soggy wait.
Not today. A few taps of your smartphone and a black cab comes around the corner, pulls up on the kerb in front of you, calls you by name and whisks your away. London's cabbies are famous the world over for their bulbous-shaped black cars, gift of the gab and "the knowledge", but what isn't so well known is that in the last year they've become an army of tech-savvy early adopters. And in an unlikely alliance have joined mobile app developers to transform the way we hail a cab. The exact business model varies from app to app, but essentially both driver (whether of a private-hire vehicle or licensed cab) and passenger download a free app to their smartphone. No specialist equipment or subscription is required. In Britain, the biggest player is Hailo with 9,000 drivers registered in the capital.
West London cabbie Seamus Balfe is a typical user. You can then use the app to book the best deal. World's Largest Taxi Booking App Launches In U.S. Taxi Apps: Changing the World While New York Waits. The official city website states plainly: "Only For Hire Vehicles (such as black cars) may have a pre-arranged agreement with clients.
" Does a tap on a smartphone amount to a "pre-arranged agreement"? That's the gray area that Judge Huff is presumably studying. Hailo originated in London in November 2011 and is currently in 10 cities from Toronto to Tokyo. Bregman said the company has some $51 million in venture capital and partners such as Richard Branson, KDDI, and Union Square Ventures. Bregman said 30,000 drivers use the app worldwide, and 5,000 New York cabbies are already using it, even before the launch of e-hailing, because it can be used as a kind of social network for sharing information about traffic jams or lines at a taxi stand. "We understand it's highly charged and litigation is common in New York," Bregman said. In any case, he added, the advent of e-hailing is "clearly an inevitability. " (Read More: Evernote Wants to Give You An Extra Brain) The cost? Taxis and technology: Dispatching the middleman. What taxi industry outsiders don’t get about VC-funded taxi apps.
By Krista Caldwell On November 14, 2012 On Thursday, transportation regulators from across North America will meet in DC to decide how to adapt taxi regulations to new technology.
This year they were thrown into the spotlight for their resistance to Uber, a San Francisco-based startup that operates a limo service without a license. Regulators’ efforts to shut down the “rogue app” attracted major media attention, most of which accused regulators of being against innovation and technology. Taxi Apps Battle For Global Market. Taxi apps battle for global market. The number of smartphone apps that enable passengers to book taxis have exploded in the last two years. The makers of the most successful apps are now planning rapid global expansions. N.Y. Livery Car Groups Sue Over Smartphone Taxi-Hail Program. Livery car groups sued the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission to stop a program that allows riders to hail taxis using smartphones from going into effect.
The Livery Roundtable, Black Car Assistance Corp. and several car-service firms filed a complaint today in state court in Manhattan alleging that the program violates city codes and discriminates against the elderly, who are less likely to own smartphones. The new program, which a lawyer for the city said could start next month, also “fundamentally overhauls the city’s long-standing transportation policy that has drawn a clear, bright-line” between medallion taxis authorized to pick up street hails and black cars that must be hired by appointment, according to the complaint.
“This is not what street-hailing typically entails,” Randy Mastro, a lawyer for the livery groups, said to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron at a hearing today. “The procedural violations here are myriad.” New Tab. This article was taken from the January 2012 issue of Wired magazine.
Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. Kabbee "The black-taxi model hasn't really changed since hailing a horse and cart on Piccadilly," says Phil Makinson. He's the business development manager for Kabbee, an Android and iPhone app for booking taxis. It locates you, then aggregates minicab fleets around you to give a quote.
Uber This San Franciscan startup provides cars to anyone with a mobile: cars should arrive in five minutes and cost about 1.5 times the price of a normal cab ride. Hailo Cab Jay Bregman, CEO of Hailo Cab, estimates that taxis lose £25 million every day by people not being able to find a car. Addison Lee Addison Lee runs the biggest car fleet in Europe, but just eight controllers plot 25,000 journeys a day. Taxi cab confessions: Hailing a ride is now a lot easier thanks to smartphone apps — or is it? Transportation in this city is changing, with subway lines, light rails and bike lanes all part of a possible future where it’s somewhat easier to get around town.
With regards to our taxis, however, the future is now. No fewer than three new startups launched this past year in the private car livery game. The Dublin Taxi App. Irish Consumers “Tired of Waiting” for their taxis Hailo survey reveals that 50% of people have waited over 30 minutes for a taxi 55% of people prefer their taxi driver to engage in conversation with them42% of people have left their mobile phone in a taxi 12% of people have left their shoes behind in a taxi The “economy” is the most popular topic of conversation in Irish taxis56% of people fear for themselves or a female friend getting taxis alone Dublin, October 2012: Hailo, Dublin’s largest taxi network, has revealed that over 50% of people have waited over 30 minutes for a taxi.
The survey, conducted by the smartphone based network, also identified Dublin black spots for hailing taxis, with Dublin City Centre (1, 2, 3 & 4) and Co Dublin being named and shamed by 27.5% and 31.5% respectively.