The year 2013 begins with an interesting premiere on the Romanian market, Orange si Netopia allowing Romanians to pay through SMS trips made using a company taxi Fly Taxi. Although the idea is interesting, it is only available in Bucharest, at least according to the information missing from the press releases. During last summer's trip in the USA, I used a taxi service that allowed you to pay using an online account and the card attached to it, and until another time I am waiting for something like this from a company in Romania, payment by SMS being the first step, but not what is needed. You can find more details in the press release below.
Bucharest, January 15, 2013: Netopia mobilPay, the leader on the Romanian market in terms of mobile phone micropayments and one of the most important processors of online card payments, has introduced, for the first time on the Romanian market, a new service that allows users of telephone services Orange to pay by SMS for trips with Fly Taxi taxis in Bucharest. The service will offer Fly Taxi customers who have installed the smartphone application the opportunity to order a taxi and travel around the city using an alternative payment method, namely SMS.
"This option is only available to subscribers or users of PrePay cards in the Orange network. The value of the trip paid by the user via SMS will appear in the next invoice, if the payment was made from a subscription, or it will be deducted from the initial credit - if it was made from a phone with a PrePay card," said Antonio Eram, CEO of Netopia. Regarding how the application works, the mobilPay representative stated that, after accessing it, the customer must select the place of departure, if it is not detected automatically, as well as the destination of arrival. After the application calculates the price of the trip, the car's identification number is displayed and the customer is asked for confirmation to pay directly with the phone. Afterwards, customers receive payment confirmation via SMS.
The service is also available from abroad and allows you to order and pay for the trip in advance by scheduling the day and pick-up location in Bucharest. In the case of those who request a taxi at the Arrivals terminal of the Henri Coanda Airport in Bucharest, they are waited by the taxi driver with a sign on which their name is written. As for the values of Fly Taxi trips, they were established according to the transfer zones, in number of four: zone 1 - north, zone 2 - center, zone 3 - between the center and the periphery and zone 4 - periphery (West , South and East of Bucharest).
"Besides the fact that the service we are launching, together with Orange and Fly Taxi, is a first for the Romanian market, it also has a number of advantages for customers. First of all, they will no longer have to order a taxi through the dispatcher - everything will be done in a few clicks. In addition, the most important thing is that the payment will be made via SMS, the customer will no longer need cash, and the price of the trip will be fixed, known by the users prior to making the order", Antonio Eram pointed out.
The Fly Taxi application is aimed at smartphone owners, is available for both the Android and iOS operating systems, and can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App Store. Netopia mobilPay is the leader on the Romanian market in terms of mobile phone micropayments and one of the most important processors of online card payments. In June 2010, Netopia mobilPay became the first Romanian product awarded in a Silicon Valley competition. The Romanian application was in the top 3 most voted technologies in the first exhibition dedicated to start-ups present in the world center of IT giants.
UPDATED: And the press release from Orange.
Orange and Fly Taxi launch the application that allows payment by SMS for taxi trips
Bucharest, January 15, 2013. Starting from January 15, Orange Romania, together with Fly Taxi, is launching the Fly Taxi application, which allows, for the first time in the country, to pay for a taxi trip via mobile phone.
The Fly Taxi application is aimed at smartphone owners, is available for both the Android and iOS operating systems, and can be downloaded for free from the Google Play and AppStore stores. It offers users the possibility to directly order a taxi, mentioning the departure address and the destination of the trip. The application automatically calculates the price of the trip, displays the car's identification number and asks for the customer's confirmation to make the payment directly with the phone. Afterwards, customers receive payment confirmation via SMS. With this confirmation, the payment amount will be found on the service invoice, in the case of customers with a subscription, and in the case of card holders, the amount required to pay for the trip displayed and confirmed in the application will be withdrawn from their PrePay credit. The application counts the remaining time until the arrival of the taxi and warns the customer 1 minute before, as well as at the moment of arrival.
Orders and payment by mobile phone can be made from anywhere in the world, and the customer will be picked up at the Henri Coandă airport in Bucharest, where the taxi driver will be waiting with a sign on which the customer's name is written. Also, the application allows ordering and paying for a taxi in advance and scheduling the day and time of arrival.
"Last year we offered our customers SMS payment services for tolls, parking, access to the metro and urban transport trips in several cities. We continue this process with the payment of the taxi trip through the Fly Taxi application", said Gabriela Voinea, Senior Partnership Manager, Orange Romania.
Fly taxi services are available for customers in Bucharest. The service was developed in partnership with Fly Taxi, Netopia MobilPay and application developer Cronos Mobile.
