Curb, the leading mobility platform for licensed taxi and for-hire rides in North America, today announced the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) as the first customer for its new PaaS offering to manage wheelchair accessible taxi service for the city. Combining Curb’s cloud-based hailing platform—which includes rider and driver mobile apps, intelligent dispatch, and mobile payments—with its 24×7 managed service option, Chicago’s taxicabs will be able to provide more convenient transportation options for residents who depend on wheelchair-accessible taxis on a monthly subscription basis.
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Chicago is the third-largest taxi market in the United States by population, and tens of thousands of residents rely on the city’s Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Taxicab Dispatch Service to transport them to and from their daily destinations. According to BACP, 82,000 rides were provided through the centralized WAV taxicab dispatch service in 2019 alone, making it a vital transportation option for many passengers.
“Chicago is proud to offer world-class transportation options for all travelers, especially passengers using wheelchairs,” said Rosa Escareno, BACP Commissioner. “With this new partnership, we are re-upping our commitment to providing quick, reliable and first-rate service to people with disabilities. We are excited to partner with CURB and continue to improve the best WAV program in the country.”
In an effort to improve the transportation infrastructure in Chicago, the city is incentivizing taxi drivers to lease and drive WAV taxis, so passengers who depend on them can access wheelchair-accessible rides when and where they are needed. With more WAV taxis on the road, BACP is working exclusively with Curb to utilize the company’s technology to better manage its supply of WAV taxis and make accessing a wheelchair-accessible taxi easier and more efficient.
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“Riders with disadvantages or disabilities have a right to equal access to convenient transportation options,” said Amos Tamam, CEO of Curb Mobility. “By offering cities a hosted and managed option for connecting their growing fleets of WAVs to the Curb platform, we are helping them fulfill that promise to their communities.”
By simply downloading the Curb app and signing up for an account, WAV riders can find and book wheelchair-accessible taxis on demand or in advance, right from their mobile devices. They can also book individual accessible rides or set accessible vehicles as their default. For those who prefer to book WAV taxi rides via phone, Curb will offer 24×7 bookings by phone. Riders booking by phone will receive SMS updates and a web link to track their rides.
Curb partners with cities and organizations throughout the country to modernize the licensed taxi and for-hire vehicle experience for millions of riders. Within the accessible transit space, Curb is actively working with accessibility and paratransit programs in major cities including New York City, Boston, and Washington D.C. to provide tech-enabled taxi rides to paratransit passengers. Curb’s latest initiative with the city of Chicago marks the mobility provider’s first move into the PaaS space.
“The new PaaS offering is a natural extension of our proven, scalable platform that we’ve built and refined over many years with both consumers and enterprises,” said Vishal Dhawan, CTO of Curb Mobility. “Our customizable cloud-based offering allows cities and transit agencies to tap into the existing network of taxis to enhance mobility for all segments of the riding public. Our managed service option allows them to do this even more efficiently and cost-effectively.”
Passengers can request a WAV taxicab ride by calling 1-888-WAV-CABS (1-888-928-2227) or by downloading the Curb app from the App Store or Google Play Store. For more information, including steps on how to download the CURB app, visit gocurb.com/ChicagoWAV.
