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VeriFone Systems Inc. reported Tuesday that it bought Curb, a taxi-hailing service that offers consumers an electronic hailing app.
The move boosts San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone’s involvement in taxis, which started almost 10 years ago, and complements Way2ride, a taxi-payment service VeriFone launched in 2013 to provide.
The Curb acquisition—terms were not disclosed—expands VeriFone’s hailing capabilities to approximately 60 U.S. cities.
Curb, formerly known as Taxi Magic, works with more than 90 cab companies and has electronic hailing access to 35,000 cars via its app, VeriFone says. Curb has payment terminals installed in approximately 15,000 cabs. VeriFone says this is in addition to the point-of-sale terminals it has installed in 40,000 cabs.
First known as RideCharge at its 2007 launch, Curb adopted the Taxi Magic moniker in 2009 before becoming Curb in 2014.
App-based taxi-hailing services are attempting to counter ride-sharing services from Uber, which launched in 2009, and Lyft that rely on private drivers using their own cars and generally are not subject to the same licensing requirements of taxis. Like Uber, Curb’s app enables consumers to pay for a ride within the app.
Curb’s booking technology and its coverage areas combined with VeriFone’s global reach, expertise in payments, and cloud-based dispatch and fleet-management tools, enables the POS terminal maker to “continue our push into the growing market for apps that provide riders with the convenience of connecting to professional vehicles and drivers through their mobile phones,” Amos Tamam, VeriFone senior vice president of Global Taxi Systems, said in a press release.
