Get a taxi in Barcelona with your smartphone

Barcelona (CNA).- A new Android or iPhone application, ‘Taksee’, allows the user to order a taxi in Barcelona using only an Internet connection.  The user sets the pick-up time and the address and the software replies with a suggested route, price and time. ‘Taksee’ has a booking service and sends an SMS with the requested information. The application is also running in Madrid and Jaén. The three young Spanish entrepreneurs behind the project plan to launch it in other European cities such as London and Paris. ‘Taksee’ is available in 8 languages: English, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese and Chinese.

Long calls to taxi operators or a long wait for a cab in the middle of the night will be a thing of the past and the new service will also be useful to foreigners that do not speak the local language. It was back in 2008 when the three developers were visiting San Francisco and realised how difficult it was to get a taxi. Santiago Lopez, CFO of the company, explained that they interviewed many taxi drivers to know the needs of the sector that could be met through new technologies.

Once the user makes a request, the mobile application links to the taxi operator centre to find a driver that agrees with the price and route. You can download the software for free, going to Apple Store, Android Market or Taksee web or watch this video to see some snapshots of the user interface.