Beck Taxi Launches Mobile App with PayPal and Credit Card In-App Payment

New Beck Taxi Mobile App and Custom Dispatch System Helps Riders to Commute Hassle-Free

TORONTO, May 21, 2015 /CNW/ - Canada's largest, family-owned and award winning taxi brokerage Beck Taxi, announced today the launch of their innovative custom end-to-end digital dispatch system. The new Beck system includes a mobile customer application that offers in-app payment in collaboration with PayPal for the first time ever in Canada. Built for both iOS and Android platforms and accessible for Blackberry 10 users, the new customer app allows commuters to ride with Beck, wallet and hassle-free. With outstanding benefits to the consumer and many new features, the mobile apps allows people to get to their destination sooner, while helping to reduce traffic congestion and taxi idling in the city.

Beck Taxi's partnership with PayPal allows Torontonians to pay directly with their mobile device through their PayPal account without waiting for paper receipts or processing payments through a terminal. Mobile payments with PayPal are safe and secure and provide drivers and riders freedom from extra fees associated with debit cards. Additionally, commuters can pay via their credit card directly through the app and receive email receipts for both PayPal and credit card transactions.

"Minutes are everything to Torontonians, and we are committed to continuing to provide transportation solutions that support our city's commuters and get people where they need to go faster, said Kristine Hubbard, Operations Manager at Beck Taxi. "This update offers customers the ability to pay in-app  and view wait times, all while providing riders with a quieter trip by cutting down on some of the radio chatter, which we know Beck customers will appreciate."

"At PayPal, we are in the driver's seat for mobile payment innovation in Canada," said Alexander Peh, Head of Mobile and Market Development at PayPal Canada. "We believe that people will se their mobile phones to pay if there's a clear benefit. We're delighted to team up with Beck Taxi to make it easy for Torontonians to book and pay for cab rides from their phones so they can enjoy a smooth commute and get to their destination faster."

"We are thrilled to partner with PayPal to offer greater choice and added convenience for both customers and drivers and make mobile payments a greater reality for Torontonians – this is truly a ground breaking partnership," says Hubbard.

Better Ride, Richer Mobile Experience
The new app allows users to rate each ride at the end of their trip. It also provides fare estimations and the ability to 'favourite' any pickup or drop off location. It still includes coveted features like the ability to provide special instructions to drivers, to schedule a ride up to 30 days in advance and to receive your car number upon ordering. Other updated features include notification of your Beck's arrival, and a new map view as well as a list view.

"We listened to our customers and drivers and included all the features they were looking for to help make their lives easier," said Kristine Hubbard.

At roughly 15.5 million Beck rides per year, early estimates indicate the app will save approximately 60 seconds off each ride, easing traffic congestion and reducing emissions, which National Resources Canada equates to more than 850 metric tonnes per annum.

Beck Taxi partnered with their long time consultancy team for this exciting project – Haddon Strategy and technology company, Cloud Sherpas.

Beck Taxi App Features

• In-app payment with credit card or PayPal
• Arrival times and distance away of ordered Beck
• New map view to track ordered car on a map
• Estimated fare calculator when destination is entered
• 'Favourite' frequent pickup and drop off locations, or favourite single pickup location
• Email receipts when using in-app payment or PayPal
• Auto tip function
• Search function to locate addresses or nearby places
• 'Rate my Ride' feature to rate Beck experience
• 30 days in advance Beck order function
• Entire system powered by the latest Google products

ABOUT BECK TAXI
Founded by Jim Beck, Beck Taxi's excellence is a family tradition as daughter Gail Beck-Souter champions her father's passion for superior service. Beck Taxi is the largest and most successful taxicab company in the country with over 2,000 available taxis operated by professionally trained, independent contracted drivers. For the past 20 years, the organization has been the proud recipient of the Toronto Sun Reader's Choice Award for Favourite Taxi Company.

ABOUT PAYPAL
At PayPal, we put people at the center of everything we do. Founded in 1998, we continue to be at the forefront of the digital payments revolution, processing almost 12.5 million payments for our customers per day. PayPal gives people better ways to connect to their money and to each other, helping them send money without sharing financial information and with the flexibility to pay using their PayPal account balances, bank accounts and credit cards. With our 165 million active customer accounts, we have created an open and secure payments ecosystem people and businesses choose to securely transact with each other online, in stores and on mobile devices. PayPal is a truly global payments platform that is available to people in 203 markets, allowing customers to get paid in more than 100 currencies, withdraw funds to their bank accounts in 57 currencies and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in 26 currencies. PayPal is an eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) company. In September 2014, eBay Inc. announced the planned separation of eBay and PayPal into independent publicly traded companies in 2015. More information about PayPal can be found at www.paypal.ca and www.paypal-media.com/ca. More information about the planned separation of eBay and PayPal can be found at update.ebayinc.com.

SOURCE Beck Taxi

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