The taxi app market in the Toronto area is suddenly a very crowded place. Customers who'd prefer to by-pass the old-fashioned dispatch system can already choose from services like Halio, Uber, and for something a bit nicer, Winston's car service (Uber also offers nicer cars). Now entering the fray, albeit in the areas surrounding the city, is TAG Taxi, a cab ordering app that's expanded from the Montreal area to cities like Mississauga, Vaughan, Pickering and Ajax. Plans are also in place to implement the service in Markham and Richmond Hill.
Along with the locations it currently serves, TAG Taxi differs from existing services in that you simply pay the driver for your ride as you would if you hailed a car on the street (or called a central dispatch). There's no billing system associated with the app, though you are able to specify at the time of ordering what method of payment you'd like to use. Other features include a ride rating system and the ability to make special requests (think oversized luggage or the like).
Also unlike Halio and Uber, TAG Taxi has partnered with cab companies rather than individual drivers. The app is currently affiliated with Astro, A-Black-Cab, Rapid Taxi and Advance-Unique, which allows cab requests to be filtered directly into each of these services central dispatch systems. So far TAG Taxi boasts access to approximately 300 cars.
Given the lower saturation of cabs in the GTA (versus the city proper), the arrival of a mobile-friendly taxi ordering service with fairly wide coverage should theoretically be very good news for suburban cab users.