rev:text
| - I love Hailo!!!
I love it so much I'd marry it if I could.
I started using the app last weekend, so have now been using it for a week. I'm still in love.
Have used it on five occasions now, and have had a fantastic experience every time.
The app is free and available for iOS and Android. And it's AWESOME.
It finds you on the map (you can edit/adjust as necessary), then tells you how far away the nearest cab is. On every occasion, it was less than five minutes. UNHEARD OF!!! It's always at least 15-20 minutes when I call other Toronto taxi companies (I'm looking at you, Beck and Co-op!) so this has been life-altering!!
So once you see how long the cab would take to reach you, you decide whether to "hail" it or not. If you do, you will then be connected with the driver. The map will continue to show both you (a little blue bonhomme) at your location and the cab (a yellow car icon) moving towards you. It's adorable. The time continues to count down and an alert sound is played when the taxi is one minute away, then again when it has actually arrived.
And off you go! Once in the cab, you can choose a tip amount (15%, 20%, 25%, etc. options) and watch your little blue man ride the yellow cab on the map all the way to your destination. ADORBS!!! Once payment has happened and you're out of the cab, you can rate your driver (5-star scale). A receipt is emailed to you, and the trip is saved in a log within the app. It's all pretty slick, and very impressive.
You can easily find promo codes for them online - there are $5 and $10 credit codes right now, some only good for your first ride. The most recent driver gave me some business cards to give to my friends with a $5 code on it too - sweet!
It's been a while since I've been so jazzed about a new business or service, but I love it when someone finds a way to make my life easier.
This one is going to change the whole industry. Calling it!
One last note unrelated to the review - one must mention all the political hoopla surrounding the introduction of taxi-calling apps in Toronto. I was confused about the differences. Here it is: Hailo is the only City-licensed app-based taxi service. There are others apps to connect the public with taxi drivers, but I would strongly suggest (after doing a lot of research and talking to the drivers about it) Hailo is better (safer, cheaper, more fair) for everyone.
|