Officials approve Ride Genie app for taxi rides

The Nevada Taxicab Authority on Thursday unanimously approved special charges for the use of Integrity Vehicle Solutions’ Ride Genie app on taxi rides.

The company unveiled Ride Genie in August to hail limousines, sedans and sports utility vehicles, but the iteration approved by regulators on Thursday adds cabs to the mix.

Company officials said the technology is ready and some cabs have been equipped with the necessary hardware to test it, but use of the app won’t be ready on a widespread basis for another three weeks.

Initially, about 70 cabs will be equipped to take e-hails, but that number is expected to grow in the months ahead as more companies sign on to use the system.

The Ride Genie app is available as a free download through iPhone and Android systems. Customers are required to provide a credit-card number to get e-hailed rides.

Several companies will be rolling out the system, including the parent companies of several taxi groups. Frias Transportation, which was once affiliated with Integrity, Yellow Checker Star, Bell Transportation’s Henderson Taxi and Whittlesea Blue and Desert Cab received permission from the authority board to collect special charges when the app is used to hail a ride.

The board approved a fee of up to $3 to use the app and a $10 “no show” fee if a customer cancels a ride request three minutes or more after requesting it. Companies also will charge an additional $3 — the industry’s existing rate — to pay for the transaction with a credit card.

The app also includes an automatic tip charge. It has a default setting of 20 percent, but that can be adjusted prior to a customer’s final approval of a transaction.

Regulators confirmed that a customer would not be charged the $3 credit card fee in addition to a no-show charge.

The up-to-$3 use fee is adjustable by company, but that is the per-trip amount Integrity will charge taxi companies for use of the app. Integrity officials said cab companies could charge customers less for competitive pricing.

The initial rollout of the system is geared toward local customers and is being tied in with cab companies receiving additional medallions to serve neighborhoods outside Southern Nevada’s traditional tourism corridors. Last month, the Taxicab Authority also approved a central dispatch system — a first for the industry — to assure that a customer in an outlying neighborhood would get the closest available cab for a ride.

As the Ride Genie app becomes more established, companies are expected to use it over a broader area, including the tourist corridors. The product is expected to be marketed first to locals and eventually to a broader audience.

Keven Ellison, an Integrity vice president, told the board that when a customer requests a cab ride with the Ride Genie system, the request would be dispatched to the cabs closest to the customer. The first driver to accept the request would be linked to the customer and a text message would be sent to identify the cab number and verify the driver is en route.

The customer would be able to see the progress of the cab on a map, similar to the hailing system used by Uber.

At the conclusion of the trip, the customer would receive a receipt explaining the various charges and payment is then verified.

For Integrity, the trickiest part of getting the system running was in coordinating the tabulation of the trip costs calculated on a meter in the car with the app.

Integrity collaborated with Las Vegas-based Triad TransTech to develop the DT5 Mobile Data system to integrate taxi meters within the app.

James Morgan, president and CEO of Triad, said it took about 1½ years to develop the integrated system.

Regulators oversaw the entire process since they are required to make any adjustments in meters, which are sealed and not accessible to the companies and their drivers.

Some local cab companies are looking at other e-hailing systems so Ride Genie isn’t expected to be the only option on the market in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, Uber, which shut down operations in Nevada in November, remains on the sidelines until it agrees to be licensed and regulated by the state. Industry leaders believe the San Francisco-based company would look to have laws and regulations amended rather than change its business model and adhere to existing regulations.

In other business Thursday, the Taxicab Authority approved additional special medallions to serve the estimated 83,000 conventioneers attending the MAGIC Marketplace Spring Show Feb. 17-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Mandalay Bay.

The board approved up to three additional cabs for each of the 16 cab companies on the Monday and Thursday of the show and up to six additional over two 12-hour shifts on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Delegates attending MAGIC, a major fashion trade show, traditionally use taxis more often than most conventioneers, industry officials say.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.