Developing and supporting more flexible, efficient and sustainable forms of transport for the Dublin region is a key priority for Smart Dublin. A huge number of Dubliners and visitors to the city region rely on taxi services to get around, but these services are rarely used to their full potential, often carrying a single passenger at a time.
Project Activities
Partnering with FreeNow a taxi e-hailing app, the Match Pilot project explores the option of a shared journey model for taxi customers, with the aim of improving availability of taxis and traffic flow, especially at peak times.
The Smart Dublin FreeNow Match Pilot began in early 2019 with two trial locations; Sandyford Business Park and the Grand Canal Dock. The pilot allowed FreeNow users in the trial locations to book a taxi and to match with another customer travelling in the same direction via the FreeNow app.
Impact
The success of the pilot locations has resulted in the expansion of the Match service, as of September 2019, to the greater city region within the M50.
Optimising taxi usage through the Share service results in benefits to taxi customers as fares are reduced, but also benefits to the city with a reduced number of cars on the road improving congestion and air quality.
Resources
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/companies/mytaxi-taxi-share-free-now-dublin
https://extra.ie/2019/09/11/business/irish/free-now-rolls-out-taxi-sharing-option-dublin-users
https://intallaght.ie/free-now-and-smart-dublin-expand-taxi-sharing-service-across-county/
