Taxi Cab Union to release new Uber-like app

Taxi Cab Union to release new Uber-like app

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union is releasing a new Uber-like app to modernize their services, according to the union’s president, Wesley Ferguson.

“This app is called Taxi Cari. It is an Uber-type app and it is very innovative. Bahamas Taxi Cab Union members will be able to download this app and it’ll be island-wide and worldwide,” Ferguson said.

“The app is so advanced it will show you the driver, where he is [located] and some kind of communication so that the driver can give you an alert when they are there.”

The rates for taxi services will remain the same but Ferguson said that customers will be charged additionally for using the app. Nonetheless, the services would still be cheaper than most of the country’s other transportation services.

“We have a different type of taxi service here in The Bahamas where the majority of the fares here in The Bahamas are prearranged,” Ferguson said. “You will find all the companies out there do prearrangements, and if you look at the prices of those prearrangements, it’s more than the actual taxi price.”

Ferguson said the new venture has been in the making for months and it will also serve as a catalyst to display taxi drivers in a more professional and trustworthy light.

“Taxi drivers in some cases have this stigma behind them where people are not so comfortable with catching any taxi but if a person can know who is picking them up and know the prices ahead of time, they are more trusting and it is more advantageous to them,” Ferguson explained.

“Because even if something goes wrong they can say, ‘Mr. Ferguson picked me up at the airport, here is my app, this is where I left my stuff, or this is the taxi driver who was rude’ and we would cancel them off the app immediately.”

According to Ferguson, the app will debut in two weeks and they are in the process of completing the construction of the operation command center in the taxi cab union building on Nassau Street.

 

About Ginelle Longley

Ginelle Longley is a broadcast reporter and occasional TV news anchor with Eyewitness News, also serving as the station’s evening radio news anchor for 103.5 The Beat. She has reported on news beats including government, politics, crime, human interest, business and even sports. In 2018, she was nominated for the Bahamas Press Club’s “Student Media Journalism Award”.