Australia: ACCC gives ihail taxi-booking app the green light

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has granted conditional authorisation to ihail for three years to launch and operate a new smartphone taxi-booking app, as part of a joint-venture arrangement between taxi networks and other industry participants.

The initial members of the ihail joint venture include Yellow Cabs, Silver Top Taxi Service, Black and White Cabs, Suburban Taxis, and Cabcharge.

The green light comes after ihail made a number of modifications to its app following the ACCC’s draft decision in October 2015 that denied ihail initial authorisation.

The changes to ihail include giving passengers a choice to pay their fare inside the taxi instead of only via the app, and the ability to choose their preferred taxi network based on certain performance information or the nearest available taxi during the booking process.

According to the ACCC, it was previously concerned that given Cabcharge is the exclusive payments provider to ihail, and that ihail initially only wanted passengers to pay their fares in-app, it would have “dampened” any emerging competition between Cabcharge and other taxi payment providers.

Full content: The Financial Review

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