Living in several big cities of the country, I always needed one taxi in order to move to various areas of the respective cities and not a few times it was difficult for me to find exactly what I was looking for. Either I didn't have it installed an application with the numbers of the taxi companies, I either had it installed and 90% of the numbers were disconnected, no matter what the situation was, the main problem was that it was hard to find a taxi even when I needed it most. Traveling in the USA, I used an extremely interesting service called UBER that allows you to call a taxi to your location using an application, follow it on the map and see how it gets to you, and make the payment using an online account and a credit card.
I wanted similar services to be implemented in Romania and my wish has been partially fulfilled for now, those from Star Taxi launching an iPhone application that helps you see on the map all the taxis available in the city you are in, helps you locate yourself on the map and call a taxi without calling somewhere. Don't get me wrong, Star Taxi it is not the first application for iPhone which helps you to call a taxi without calling the dispatcher, but it is the first application that displays on the map, with real-time location, all the taxis available in your city and before placing an order gives you the opportunity to choose what car do you call
You basically open application, you are automatically located by GPS, after locating you press the big yellow button Order Taxi, write some details about the location, possibly specific if you have luggage, if you want a non-smoking driver, if you have a pet, etc., and then you will be shown a list of cars that can reach you quickly, including the time you have to wait. If you don't want to make an order directly, but just see what cars are around you, there is the Radar option that allows you to view all the taxi drivers nearby and the estimated time to reach you. Finally, I will tell you that the application has a menu where you can find out: how many rides you have found and how many points you have accumulated by making those rides, find out what your favorite addresses are, you have a list of all the orders placed, the drivers used for the orders, etc. Although this facility is not yet available, in the future Star Taxi will also allow you to pay using a bank card, and I for one can't wait to see this option implemented.
To be honest, I did not think that I would see a system of this kind in Romania very soon and I am glad that a company like Star Taxi had the courage to convince taxi drivers that it is worth trying in our country. Unlike the system I use in the USA, Star Taxi does not yet allow you to pay using a bank card and an online payment system, but in the application it displays a history of your trips and in the future there will be payment by SMS. Star Taxi is currently available in Bucharest and Brasov, it will soon expand to other cities in the country, the next ones probably being Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi, and I think this is a very good method to discipline and organize taxi companies - that work according to rules known only to them.
The Star Taxi application is available for free in the App Store, it works natively only on iPhone/iPod Touch. During this month, the application was updated and offers you the possibility to choose the language in which you want to use it (Romanian, English and Bulgarian being available), it works better, and has a new side menu that gives you easier access to the functions its. I recommend you try the Star Taxi application, because it gives you access to 10 times more taxis than any other taxi company in Bucharest and helps you get where you need quickly.
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Star Taxi
Free
Description: Available in Bucharest and Brasov.
Order a taxi in a few seconds, directly from the application, for free.
Say goodbye to phone calls with operators, waiting for order confirmation. Stop going out...
Star Taxi's mission is to radically transform the experience of ordering a taxi. We want to make it much simpler, more accessible and with as little wasted time as possible on the part of the client.
- Find the nearest available taxi is an important part of this experience.
- Being able to order a taxi from any company through a single order means that you have access to 12.000 taxis in Bucharest, instead of the maximum 1.500 that the largest company has, if you call them.
- To order by pressing only two buttons it is absolutely essential.
- See the driver coming on the map towards you is interactive.
- Communicate via chat with the driver it is useful: you know exactly when it arrives, you no longer stand in the rain waiting for it.
- To be able to surf the internet for free, via wi-fi, during the taxi journey, is welcome.
- To give comments to the driver at the end of the race, visible to everyone, will improve the quality of service for everyone.
- Order again at your favorite addresses it's even simpler - press a single button.
Currently, there are still telephones at the taxi company, but they involve many unpleasant experiences:
- waiting for an answer
- the realization that there is no one on the other end,
- called another dispatcher,
- confirmed address and name 2 times,
- waiting for confirmation on an ominous tune,
