Taxi Magic, a digital dispatch service (DDS) based in Alexandria, Va., announces today that it has been approved for operation by the D.C. Taxicab Commission (DCTC). The company, which has been working with the
D.C. Yellow Cab dispatch service for several years, is now free to cultivate relationships with independent cab drivers who have not worked with a dispatch service before.
"[The DCTC] wants to monitor and manage [DDSs]," explains Sanders Partee, co-founder and president of Taxi Magic. "We don't have a problem with being a part of a regulatory environment."
Partee calls the District a unique city in that its taxicab ecosystem is an "open system. The landscape here is very different than in other cities," he says. "[D.C.] has never had a strong dispatch market." As a result, drivers don't have organized ways of finding fares. "[Drivers know to] go to the Verizon Center at the end of the game, or go to [certain] hotels or wait in the airport line."
"We're bringing dispatch to D.C.," Partee says. Taxi Magic grew out of Ride Charge, which was founded in 2007. Like other e-hail companies, Taxi Magic offers smartphone apps for riders and drivers. The apps are free to download. Riders pay a $1.50 booking fee per ride. The drivers' app allows taxi operators to find fares without having to sign up with a traditional dispatch system, which can be a source of unwanted overhead.
Taxi Magic employs 60 people in its Alexandria location. Partee anticipates hiring 40 more over the next 4 to 6 months as the company expands. "Our traditional business is book, track, charge and expense," he says, explaining that the company has software that can "push expenses directly to corporate expense reports. And business is really good."