Montreal City Weblog

Kate 12:25 on 2019-10-15 Permalink Reply  

• Blork 14:31 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  I finally used Uber for the first time last week in Seattle, and it reinforced my ideas about why it is so much better than conventional taxis. I’m not talking about the business model or the “gig economy” or any of that; simply the user experience. Specifically:

  Reliable hailing via GPS enabled app. (That right there changes everything!)

  Your ride is pre-paid as soon as you accept it. That means the driver is encouraged to get you there quickly and it pretty much eliminates the “scenic route” trick that some taxi drivers still like to pull.

  Payment is automatic and through the app. No fumbling with cards or cash.

  Tip (optional) is added later, so you don’t have that situation where the driver is staring at you while you are calculating the tip. (I don’t know about you, but I hate that, and it usually results in my over-tipping or under-tipping because of “under-pressure” errors.)

  I was a fan of Téo before they went under because that’s how they operated too, but minus the driver-level problems of job insecurity and all that.

  BTW, the Téo app has been updated and is now used for hailing (and paying) for Diamond and Hochelaga taxis. I’ve set it up but haven’t tried it out yet.

• Ephraim 14:32 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  Damn… with likely 6 years to go before we know an outcome… this is going to have me waiting with baited breath… maybe not.

• Kate 14:48 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  Blork, the Téo app works well with the conventional taxi fleet. I rarely take a cab unless I’m in a hurry, so I was hesitant to chance it a few times, but the other day I was under less pressure and find that it works fine. Nothing says it won’t eventually stop working, though.

• Blork 17:44 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  Kate, I think it might be around for a while, as it was just updated.

  My point is that Uber changed the game on hailing and paying, and taxis need to keep up. The old (now new) Téo app is a great move in that direction. There are similar taxi apps in various other cities, but from what I’ve read most of them are badly done, don’t work well, aren’t used for payment, etc.

  I was in Victoria last week and I called a regular taxi (there is no Uber in BC). To my surprise, I got a text message a couple of minutes later containing a link where I could track the taxi on a map. That was kind of cool, as you at least know exactly when it will arrive. First step…

• EmilyG 19:46 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  I don’t have any taxi apps on my flip phone, but I did manage to manually hail a Téo recently.

• Blork 21:11 on 2019-10-15 Permalink

  That’s weird, given that Téo went out of business nine months ago!

• EmilyG 09:19 on 2019-10-16 Permalink

  I thought PKP bought it recently or something.

• Kate 12:53 on 2019-10-16 Permalink

  There are some cabs out there with a Téo-like livery, but in orange and white instead of green. I don’t know whether they’re electric like the Téo cars were. EmilyG, I don’t think you can have seen a Téo recently but you might have seen one of those.

• Dhomas 20:15 on 2019-10-16 Permalink

  I’m a fan of Eva now that Téo is sorta-kinda out of business. It’s user experience is quite like Uber’s (GPS, app-based, pre-payment, etc), but the company behind it is based in Quebec, so I don’t feel so bad funneling money to a Silicon Valley company that will contribute little to nothing to the local economy via taxes. They also do something with blockchain (the technology behind Bitcoin), but I don’t quite understand what. I’d recommend to check it out, of you haven’t already.

• Blork 21:04 on 2019-10-16 Permalink

  Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of Eva before. (Gggl “Eva rideshare”.)