Hailo Takes A Ride On Toronto Streets, App Makes Its Canadian Debut

BY: 

Dave Forde
September 28, 2012

In a busy city like Toronto catching a cab can be a daunting task, you look down the street at the cab approaching and try to determine if their “available” light is on or off. All of that now changes as UK-based Hailo has opened up their first Canadian office in Toronto.  Hailo has created a free Android or Apple iOS apps can consumers can download to their smartphone or tablet and order a cab. Cab drivers also have apps on their devices which alter them of a possible fair, which helps save time for both the cab driver and rider.  Cab drivers have their over version of the app which also includes a dashboard and access to backend analytics so cab drivers can see a history of their fares and get an understanding of the revenue that’s been collected as a result of using Hailo.

A launch event was organized by their public relations agency, Veritas Communications earlier this week where the Hailo team was on hand to answer questions and give a demonstration of the new service.  Hailo launched in 2011 and is now looking to conquer the streets of Toronto, and then expand to Boston and New York City.

Canadian operations will be headed up by David Boriss (General Manager Operation), and the company was Founded by Russell Hall and Jay Bregman.

 

Advertising Play: No advertising play ‘today’

Customers: consumers and cab drivers (not companies at this point)

Hailo is not the first service to jump into this car service pool that is trying to help help consumers catch a cab, when asked how they compare to Uber, Jay responded, “..the faster they burn through that $32 million in venture capital they raised the better. We don’t worry about them.”  “We don’t need to give away free rides to grow our user base.”

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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