As traditional taxi companies adjust to competing against ride-hailing services such as Uber, an Ottawa taxi brand is releasing a new app that it says offers a new way of booking rides.
On Monday, Capital Taxi officially released an Android and iOS app that lets users order a trip from a mobile device. Capital Taxi’s parent company, Coventry Connections, also operates several of Ottawa’s other major taxi brands such as Blueline and West-Way and has offered mobile booking apps since 2014.
“This initiative is focused on offering increased consumer choice, and to make the experience of booking a taxi with us easier, faster and more reliable,” said Capital Taxi president Marc André Way in a statement.
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Through the increased use of mobile app bookings, Ottawa’s traditional taxi operators are adopting some of the features that make Uber popular among users.
As it faces rising competition from traditional taxi companies, local upstarts such as oRide and technology firms such as Lyft, Uber continues to post large financial losses and is being forced to deal with the departure of several senior executives.
A study of Ottawa residents released in 2015 found that many said they were better served by Uber than traditional taxi operators.
