Hailo

Offside

I was coming home tonight and ordered a hailo. I was surprised when my driver pulled over in a very nice car with no taxi plate on - he said he'd explain the story and I jumped in. I jumped in, and noticed there was no meter in the taxi either, so I quickly asked about that.

He told me he was part of a new Hailo plus service which were as a trial allowed to be booked through the normal hailo service. I asked him about the fare and he showed me his app which was running the fare, starting at 4.10 on premium rate instead of 4.65 on a normal taxi on premium hours.

The taxi driver was a good guy, and my fare was as it normally would have been on a meter - my question is, does anyone know the legality of this? This guy isn't a taxi driver, had no taxi regulator id etc. Was I essentially in a private limo? I booked a taxi - I didn't end up in one, while the service was great, I'm just curious if anyone knows anymore about the service I did end up in - I'm not used to jumping in a taxi with no taxi plate or meter!

slimjimmc

Hailo Plus was announced last month as a executive car service.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/transport-and-tourism/hailo-celebrates-second-irish-anniversary-with-new-services-1.1838564
The main difference between a taxi and hackney/limo is that a hackney/limo must be ordered and cannot ply the streets for custom, so it seems legit to get a hackney/limo as you ordered a car to come to you rather than stick your hand out or go to a rank.

Hackneys and limos do not have meters and you agree the fee before the journey starts, and AFAIK if it was a licenced car it should display a small yellow plate usually on the front/rear bumper of the car.

ThisRegard

I think there's an option within the Halio app, or else just a message, can't remember now, that asks about being able to avail of this service at no extra cost.

Offside

Yeah I've seen that message about free upgrades before - nothing indicated that I wasn't ordering a taxi when booking though. My only worry would be working off a hailo meter rather than an actual meter. I expect a taxi when I book a hailo so I was a little surprised.

Scruffy...The Janitor

You ordered a TAXI not a hackney or limo. You didn't agree a fare beforehand and the 'Meter' he was using wasn't a recognised and sealed meter. I would have told him where to go when he asked for the fare.

caff

Sounds like Hailo may get into trouble with this as hackenys as far as I know can't meter,
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/public_transport/charges_for_taxi_hackney_and_limosuine_services.html

Offside

Scruffy...The Janitor wrote: »

You ordered a TAXI not a hackney or limo. You didn't agree a fare beforehand and the 'Meter' he was using wasn't a recognised and sealed meter. I would have told him where to go when he asked for the fare.

You would have taken the ride and then refused to pay? I'm sure you meant you would have told him where to go when you got in and realized the situation.

Uber use the meter app as well and don't seem to be having any problems. But at least you know the deal when you're ordering an Uber, which is not the case with Hailo Plus (for now).

Scruffy...The Janitor

Offside wrote: »

You would have taken the ride and then refused to pay? I'm sure you meant you would have told him where to go when you got in and realized the situation.

Uber use the meter app as well and don't seem to be having any problems. But at least you know the deal when you're ordering an Uber, which is not the case with Hailo Plus (for now).

I'm not too familiar with Uber but a quick google and it seems like it's a car share type app rather than an app to book a public service vehicle. I may be horribly wrong there tho.

The meter app is a load of bs. Unless it's hooked up to the cars speedometer and odometer and is also sealed to prevent tampering then it should in no way be used to meter a taxi journey.

And I'm not sure when I would have told him where to go. Depends on my mood at the time. I've no time for someone trying to scam me and would take the journey and refuse to pay with a clear conscience.

WildCardDoW

When you go to get a taxi through Hailo there's a "Free Car Upgrades" slider that you can switch on and off.

dilallio

There is an option in Hailo on the ordering screen above where you select Cash or Card Account, to disable this.

I use Hailo regularly and the one time I got one of these 'limo's', while the car was very nice, there was no meter and the fare worked out 12% more expensive.

More importantly, if you're in a hurry remember that these cars are not allowed to use bus lanes.

slimjimmc

dilallio wrote: »

There is an option in Hailo on the ordering screen above where you select Cash or Card Account, to disable this.

I use Hailo regularly and the one time I got one of these 'limo's', while the car was very nice, there was no meter and the fare worked out 12% more expensive.

More importantly, if you're in a hurry remember that these cars are not allowed to use bus lanes.

Can you recall how your fare was calculated, i.e. was price agreed at the beginning (as the law requires for hackney/limo hires) or did they meter you in some way and only tell you at the end of the journey?

dilallio

slimjimmc wrote: »

Can you recall how your fare was calculated, i.e. was price agreed at the beginning (as the law requires for hackney/limo hires) or did they meter you in some way and only tell you at the end of the journey?

Only at the end of the journey. He typed something into his phone which I couldn't see and came up with €12.50 for a fare which never exceeded €10 using regular taxis.

ShaShaBear

Perhaps it's female paranoia, but I wouldn't even have gotten into the car tbh :eek:

slimjimmc

dilallio wrote: »

Only at the end of the journey. He typed something into his phone which I couldn't see and came up with €12.50 for a fare which never exceeded €10 using regular taxis.

Then it does indeed sound like he was in breach of the regs.
http://www.nationaltransport.ie/public-transport-services/taxi/hackney/
http://www.nationaltransport.ie/public-transport-services/taxi/limousines/

dilallio

slimjimmc wrote: »

Then it does indeed sound like he was in breach of the regs.
http://www.nationaltransport.ie/public-transport-services/taxi/hackney/
http://www.nationaltransport.ie/public-transport-services/taxi/limousines/

Thanks for that.
I've asked Hailo for an explanation for how prices for non-official taxi's are calculated. I'll update this thread when I receive a reply.

dudara

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Perhaps it's female paranoia, but I wouldn't even have gotten into the car tbh :eek:

I'm assuming that Hailo would still apply the same vetting procedures to the drivers. It would be a PR disaster for Hailo if anything went wrong with one of their drivers.

I actually just used Hailo to get home and I got a shiny new Mercedes. Very nice. Fare seemed the same as usual

BriReilly

Did you hear back? Tried to get in contact with customer service re lost property but my emails went unanswered!

keithclancy

Scruffy...The Janitor wrote: »

I'm not too familiar with Uber but a quick google and it seems like it's a car share type app rather than an app to book a public service vehicle. I may be horribly wrong there tho.

The meter app is a load of bs. Unless it's hooked up to the cars speedometer and odometer and is also sealed to prevent tampering then it should in no way be used to meter a taxi journey.

And I'm not sure when I would have told him where to go. Depends on my mood at the time. I've no time for someone trying to scam me and would take the journey and refuse to pay with a clear conscience.

My phone measures my Location and Speed just fine.

Meters can be tampered with easily though, I guess with this you would need to make a fake app.