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Taxi's are so bad that they had to change the name of their app to get people to use it.
The taxi-summoning phone app Taxi Magic is getting a face-lift that includes expanded services, a new CEO and a trendier, four-letter name: Curb.
The rebranding, set to launch today, is the latest salvo in the battle between
a beleaguered taxi industry and ride-sharing phone apps such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.
Taxi Magic, which launched in 2009, has not been able to compete on price with ride-share companies that connect passengers with drivers who aren’t commercially licensed and have limited commercial insurance.
Taxi Magic’s parent company, RideCharge, Inc., has been “satisfied with the old application but not happy,” said new Curb CEO Pat Lashinksy, who starts with the company this month.
Only 12 percent of customers use Taxi Magic to call a taxi, while nearly half call a dispatch service and about a quarter hail from the street. Lashinsky said the company expects the number of app-summoned fares to jump to 20 percent within the next year due to changing habits.
Curb users will be able to order a range of car services, from taxis to black car limousines. Taxi Magic was limited to taxis only, Lashinksy said, because some states regulate the use of the term “taxi” in product names.
Uber offers licensed and fully insured black car and SUV services in addition to its cheaper ride-share service, UberX.
Curb’s prices will still be higher than Uber and Lyft, which can afford to charge less than taxis because they do not pay employees to meet and train new drivers. Additionally,
Uber and Lyft are not held to the same regulatory standards because they are legally classified as “transportation network companies,” or TNCs, not a taxi service.
TNCs tend to be significantly cheaper than taxis, but their prices do rise when demand is high.
“The other competitor that’s got the U-R-B in the initials will say, ‘We’ve got this low price!’ ” Lashinksy said. “That’s like a restaurant that has a blue-hair special dinner that’s $20, but from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. it’s only $10. But who wants to go to dinner from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.?”
Ordering a taxi through Curb will get customers the same price as hailing one on the street. But there are some advantages to ordering on a smartphone. Curb allows patrons to see how far away a taxi is after they’ve requested a ride, just like with TNCs.
The app also allows taxi owners to know where their drivers are. This is a big advantage, since part of the reason that taxis sometimes take so long to arrive is that drivers will stop to pick up an extra fare even though they are on their way to pick up a fare that was called in through a dispatch center, Lashinksy said.
This kind of behavior is “a very short-term decision” that’s “bad for everyone,” he said, because it gives taxis a bad name.
One big difference between Taxi Magic and Curb is that drivers who stop for an extra fare on their way to pick up another passenger will be blocked from the app for five hours.
Lashinksy said that drivers are much more willing to innovate these days.
“The competitive environment has changed,” Lashinksy said. “Previously, the industry was maybe resistant to having to do new things and now it’s definitely more open, particularly in L.A.”
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