Pairing up riders
PA blesses app for sharing yellow cabs
Ride sharing? Taxi hailing? How about a taxisharing app?
Bandwagon, a Brooklynbased tech startup, has partnered with the Port Authority to pilot a new app at LaGuardia Airport that allows travelers to share yellow cabs — saving both time and money.
Users can save time when the app pairs someone at the end of the line with someone at the head of the line going to a location near them.
With the PA’s blessing, that backoftheline person can move to the head of the line to share a ride.
The app could help cut down on long taxi lines.
Bandwagon could also save travelers money — perhaps shaving 40 percent of the cost of the cab ride, according to David Mahfouda, Bandwagon’s founder and CEO.
Pairedup passengers use the app to split the total estimated fare when the first passenger gets dropped off.
The app, which charges 10 percent of the total fare to each passenger, ensures that the second passenger isn’t taken more than 20 percent out of his way by the pairing.
“It’s like an HOV lane” at the taxi stand, Mahfouda told The Post. “Only we call it an HOP lane — for ‘HighOccupancy Passengers.’”
Launched Thursday at 4 p.m. at LaGuardia terminals Band D, Bandwagon initially will be available only during peak periods when cabs are scarce, including Thursday and Friday evenings and Sunday evenings.
While Uber and Lyft have effectively consolidated the blackcar industry, Bandwagon aims to give yellow cabs tools to compete more effectively, according to Mahfouda.
“Unlike Uber and Lyft, Bandwagon is using existing taxi infrastructure,” Mahfouda told The Post, placing his fledgling service up against the two ridesharing giants.
If successful, Bandwagon and the PAaim to expand the service to JFK and Newark airports.
Bandwagon already has begun a taxisharing program with United Airlines at Newark Airport that doesn’t use stands operated by the PA.