In SF Taxi drivers add apps in their fight with Uber, Lyft

Taxi drivers add apps in their fight with Uber, Lyft
Competition for passengers intensifies
http://www.sfchronicle.com/technology/article/Taxi-drivers-add-apps-in-t...

By Carolyn Said

August 5, 2014 | Updated: August 5, 2014 5:44pm

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As John Lyman drives his Yellow Cab through the streets of San Francisco, he uses smartphone apps called Taxi Magic and Flywheel to help connect him with riders.

Both apps let passengers hail taxis simply by tapping their phones. Both are the beleaguered taxi industry's best hope to compete with tech-enabled upstarts like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, which have siphoned off their customers.

Now, as part of a push back against the disruptive startups, Taxi Magic is renaming itself Curb ( www.gocurb.com) and upgrading its app. Eventually it wants to expand to let passengers summon other forms of transport such as sedans and livery vehicles (as Uber already does).

"Apps are obviously where the taxi business is going," said Lyman, who has logged 20 years in the industry as a driver, dispatcher and manager. "The rides are more dependable. With calls that come in through dispatch, lots of people end up flagging the first thing that comes by (on the street) so they are no-gos. With apps, they can follow us on their phones and see we're coming, so they wait for us."

Ironically, both taxi apps predated Uber and Lyft, but didn't gain wide acceptance among drivers until the taxi business started to struggle against the new competition.

"Taxis failed to adjust fast enough as ride sharing came in," said Pat Lashinsky, the new CEO of Curb in Alexandria, Va., and former CEO of Emeryville's ZipRealty. "Consumers say taxis haven't changed much in the past 20 years, and that's something they haven't liked."

He sees the rivalry from the nonprofessional drivers in their own cars as a positive.