Taxi business grows with innovation

A taxi company in Toldeo, Ohio, is experiencing double-digit growth in business through advances in technology, reports WTVG-TV:

One local taxi cab company says business is booming and the owner attributes that to accessibility.

Business at Black and White is up nearly 30 percent over the last two years. And co-owner Scott Potter attributes the growth to advances in technology. Potter says, "First we bought an automated dispatch system, then we added computers in the vehicles which read credit cards, gift cards."

Today you can hail a cab over the internet, through texting, and even using a smart phone app. Soon all of the methods will be listed with the phone number on all of Black and White's cabs.

And there's other innovations, too:

The company has more than 300 contracts with various agencies to transport patients to and from medical appointments. That makes up the bulk of the company's business.

If municipalities were to get out of the licensing business altogether, accessibility, lower costs, and better service would blossom in the taxi industry.