Are lazy cab drivers and lost possessions a thing of the past? We gave the much-vaunted iCabbi taxi app a spin and came back suitably impressed.
We’ll admit to occupying the majority of our App Store time in the JOE office with cutting ropes, catching ice-creams and singing down the phone before embellishing a sheen of Autotune afterwards, essential work-place necessities like that.
It’s unusual for us to ever actually find apps of any value or function, not when we can simply waste away another thirty hours or so enraptured with our beloved Game Dev Story. The Irish-based iCabbi app, however, managed to finally stop us in our tracks.
Recently featured in a Homegrown Success feature on this very site, the iCabbi app is promising to be the future of taxi services. While the feature is only fully launched in Cork and Dublin as of this writing, there’s every reason to believe the app is the answer to any number of regular taxi issues – problems such as phantom cabs that have promised to be there in ‘just a minute’, if you’ve left your valuables in your cab and haven’t a clue of how to get back in touch or even if you need a taxi but English isn’t your first language, ¿sabes lo que quiero decir?
As you can see, iCabbi’s drivers are quite young but are apparently fully licensed
We’re happy to report that yes, the iCabbi app is free and once installed, users can set up their account and the app will be find your location automatically. From here, push an ‘Available’ button and the app will allow a cab to find you. Bring up the map function on the iCabbi and you can actually track your drivers progress in real time, while you’ll receive details of the transaction heading to your phone and/or email address for full traceability.
We’ve been trying to figure out exactly who this app fully benefits from and in truth, whether you’re a non-national, have speech difficulties or are just plain shy, it’s a nifty service.
We road-tested the app in Dublin in last week and honestly, it’s hard to see how the service isn’t adopted as the new standard in Irish taxis for years to come – sure it may involve training up a few tech-illiterate cabbies but the benefits to the end user (you) are pretty clear, while we doubt we’ll get bored of tracking our cab in real-time anytime soon. Shame it’s only based in Cork and Dublin for now but it’s early days for what could be a godsend for revellers and tourists alike.
iCabbi is available to download from the App Store for free.
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