Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

TODAY

Thursday, March 28

Gapers Block
Search

Gapers Block on Facebook Gapers Block on Flickr Gapers Block on Twitter The Gapers Block Tumblr


The Mechanics
« Give Em An Inch, They Tax Break All Over You Book Discussion: Twenty-First Century Chicago »

Transportation Thu Dec 22 2011

New App Allows Taxi Users to Share Rides

One of the competitors in the Apps For Metro Chicago Grand Challenge promises to help Chicago become greener while users save money. Taxi Share Chicago has that goal in mind.

The idea for the app came from Chicago attorney Dan Fedor after meeting his wife while sharing a cab. Fedor thought that an app allowing people to share a taxi would not only help save money but also reduce carbon emissions and congestion.

Cyberwalkabout.com CEO Uki Lucas designed the app.

The app is also touted as being a way to help taxi drivers make more money by having multiple passengers who can both tip after the ride is done.

According to a press release, about 2,000 people have downloaded the app in the Chicago area and was recently launched in San Francisco. Taxi Share plans to have apps for 100 cities in the next three months.

A potential problem is that the app is only available for those who own phones that use an Android operating system, meaning currently those who do not use an Android-based phone will not be able to use the application. There is an iPhone compatible version in development that should be released in January. The app's initial release for Android phones is the result of the developers being familiar with that operating system.

The app is available for a free download and there is no fee because Finch's Beer sponsors the Chicago version of Taxi Share.

Those who use the app can vote for it in the Apps For Metro Chicago Grand Challenge.

 
GB store
GB store

Feature

Parents Still Steaming, but About More Than Just Boilers

By Phil Huckelberry / 2 Comments

It's now been 11 days since the carbon monoxide leak which sent over 80 Prussing Elementary School students and staff to the hospital. While officials from Chicago Public Schools have partially answered some questions, and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has informed that he will be visiting the school to field more questions on Nov. 16, many parents remain irate at the CPS response to date. More...

Civics

Substance, Not Style, the Source of Rahm's Woes

By Ramsin Canon / 2 Comments

It's not surprising that some of Mayor Emanuel's sympathizers and supporters are confusing people's substantive disputes with the mayor as the effect of poor marketing on his part. It's exactly this insular worldview that has gotten the mayor in hot... More...

Special Series

Classroom Mechanics Oral History Project
GB store



About Mechanics

Mechanics is the politics section of Gapers Block, reflecting the diversity of viewpoints and beliefs of Chicagoans and Illinoisans. More...
Please see our submission guidelines.

Editor: Mike Ewing, mike@gapersblock.com
Mechanics staff inbox: mechanics@gapersblock.com

Archives

 

 Subscribe in a reader.

GB store

GB Store

GB Buttons $1.50

GB T-Shirt $12

I ✶ Chi T-Shirts $15