Hailo was a roaring success. Then, two years ago, it became MyTaxi. Since that happened, the company has had its struggles. Now, it’s rebranding yet again in a €3m move – to ‘Free Now’.

Adrian Weckler has a candid chat with the company’s general manager, Alan Fox, about why the name change was necessary and whether technology can improve some of the issues the firm has faced.

They also talk about future ideas, such as ‘surge pricing’ at busy times, as well as current features, such as a new €5 cancellation charge.

And Adrian asks whether it’s a good or bad thing that regulations prevent companies like Uber and Lyft from operating similar services to many other European and US cities.

‘Free Now’ is the largest taxi company operating in Ireland with 12,000 drivers, 540,000 “regular” customers and 4.5m passengers carried in the first three months of this year.

It is also part of a wider taxi transportation group across Europe, ultimately owned by the German automotive giant Daimler.

And it is starting to introduce new services such as shared taxi trips between multiple passengers via its new MyTaxi Match app feature. In future, it hopes to add a fleet of electric scooters around Dublin.

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