In November 2014, Uber legally entered the city of Houston and has since taken over the transport competition. Now, the city officials are planning in consolidating dispatch via a private smartphone app to try and keep up with their techier rival.
Arro - a company already coalescing dispatch in several cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco - has been called upon by the Houston's functionaries on Monday to develop a universal taxi app for the city's 146 taxi companies.
"We're excited to bring the taxi industry, fully, into the digital age," said Tina Paez, director of Houston's Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department. The move is to put a better system on the nearly 4,000 taxi and limo permits of roughly 9,000 drivers operating in the city.
The app would certainly help taxi and limo companies in dispersing their vehicle and finding people looking for a ride in various parts of the city, breaking its reliance on downtown cab stands and airport trips which are the standard practice for years.
"I think you will have people come to rely on faster cab service than they do now," said Duane Kamins, owner of Lone Star Cab Company.
Aside from improving how taxi and limo operates, the app also stands as an emergency lever should Uber move out the city before Super Bowl begins. Uber has been known to oppose some of Houston's rules such as stricter safety concerns and limitations where drivers can pick-up and drop-off passengers.
Lawmakers are also thwarting the fledgling company's expansion by imposing requirements on driver fingerprinting, vehicle inspection, and insurance fees. Since passing the legislation, more than 20,000 people in Houston who completed Uber's screening failed when it came to acquiring the city's licensing process, based on an Uber survey.
More than half of the numbers mentioned above - mainly minorities and low-income individuals - said that the regulations were too costly, complicated, and time-consuming turning them away from the company.
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