A taxi ride can be an unpleasant experience. The driver might talk too much about politics, or smoke while driving, even though it's illegal. A new Israeli application seeks to make the taxi ride a more pleasant experience by making it possible to order the cab, choose the driver, know what kind of vehicle will pick you up, and how clean it is.
The Get Taxi application is due to begin a pilot program in January. It will enable users to locate the nearest taxi, or chose another taxi from elsewhere. Get Taxi Ltd. was founded in July. It has five employees in Israel and ten in San Francisco. It has raised $1.5 million to date from private investors, and has pledges for $5 million more, which will be allocated for marketing the application.
Get Taxi plans to launch the application in London and Moscow, as well, next year, and in six more cities over the next two years. The company will charge the taxi drivers for the service; users will not be charged.
Get Taxi CEO David Glattman said, "The company was founded to greatly improve the users' taxi experience and to customize it to the contemporary era. The beta version that we're now working on works on Nokia phones, Blackberries, and Apple devices. Since Google's Android is not yet widespread in Israel, we've allowed ourselves to put off an Android version to a later stage."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 16, 2010
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