Just in time for the Australia Day long weekend comes a new app that will let Wollongong residents book cabs through their mobile phone.
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Championed by Wollongong Radio Cabs driver Henk Haasjes, the Taxi Ezy app has existed for some time but he is the first in the Gong to sign up.
He's only now making it public after a three-month testing phase.
"I wanted to see if it worked myself first," Mr Haasjes said.
"Websites and online technology are beautiful but you still need the infrastructure on the ground to do the jobs."
At the moment the only "infrastructure" on the ground is Mr Haasjes himself but he hopes that other drivers will join him once they see it in action.
He said it would also have the advantage of giving the drivers more work because there weren't enough jobs around these days.
Mr Haasjes said the app, which is available on both iTunes and Android, provided a number of benefits to the consumer.
"The person making the booking can see which taxi drivers are available and if their favourite taxi driver is around," he said.
"Otherwise the job goes to the driver that's nearest, as determined by GPS."
It also gives the price of the fare upfront, which Mr Haasjes felt would appeal to users.
"A lot of people don't take taxis because they don't know how much it costs," he said.
"Plus, we can set the price. We can say, 'if you book through Taxi Ezy you get a better deal'.
"It's up to the driver to accept the job, the same as would happen if people go up to the rank."
"Also, that's the price. Even if we get stuck in traffic, it's still that price."
Wollongong Radio Cabs general manager George Isiklar said he didn't have an objection to drivers using apps like this as the group was a co-operative where every taxi on the road is a business on its own.
"I don't have a problem with anybody using any apps," Mr Isiklar said.
"As long as the customers are happy, that's what we're here for."
Though Mr Isiklar did have some reservations about them from the point of view of the safety of those customers.
"Customers have to realise, if we don't control the app, then the app's not going through our dispatch system," he said.
"We don't know what's happening out there. We can track the car but the car needs to activate a meter for us to be able to track it."
He said Wollongong Radio Cabs would release an app soon.