Crazy taxi!

“Use Hailo to get a black cab wherever you are, whenever you want. All it takes is two taps on your iPhone or Android Phone. Pay cash or card, with no charges above the meter”

Many of you may have heard about Hailo - the app that lets you book black cabs in and around London. Ive been using it (border line obsessively for any travel Ive done) for the past week and could not rate it higher. A few thoughts below:

1) It works. Cabs arrive usually around 2-3 mins later. They also wait for 5 mins (free) until you (or your other half) finish getting ready. No more waiting in the cold.

2) Ring Ring. You can call the cab driver, and he/she can call you. Yet it is still private, no numbers are shared. 

3) Safety first. The cab driver and passenger are rated - with stars out of 5.  You also receive a photo and reg of the cab before boarding.

4) Credit/debit. Finally - it seemed that the UK (for some random reason) was hanging behind the rest of the world with allowing passengers to pay for cabs with card payments. Hailo lets you do this easily, and best of all with ZERO cost.

5) Auto Tipping. You can let the app automatically tip a % each time. 

The application went live in the last half of 2011 and is growing at a pace of 30% MoM at the moment - Backed by Atomico Ventures and Wellington Partners, yes, the same people who had the idea for Skype, invested heavily in Spotify and a whole bunch of other success stories.

I love it when a plan comes together.