appTaxi - Book and Pay Taxis

I found this app very difficult to use. It automatically pulled my general location from my phone, but didn’t allow me to enter an exact pickup address. This was a major issue because the areas we needed to be picked up from didn’t have house numbers listed, and the app couldn’t pinpoint us accurately. We also had six passengers, and it took quite a bit of digging to even find the option to add that info. Despite entering it, a cab showed up that could only fit three people. The driver had to call the company, and I ended up on the phone with them to request a larger vehicle. While they agreed to send a six-passenger taxi, they told me I had to pay for both cabs because the app showed the wrong number of riders—despite the fact I had done everything I could within the app to request a larger vehicle. My advice: skip the app and just call the company directly. It’ll save you time, confusion, and likely money.

I use Uber and Lyft very often in other countries when I travel. So I’m not a novice to rideshare app use. My first attempt to schedule a taxi in Florence went smoothly. I created an account, added my payment method, and scheduled a pickup at our apartment. We needed to be somewhere at 7am and the taxi was scheduled the night before and arrived promptly. Then, every other attempt failed. Regardless of whether I was trying to “call” a taxi right then or schedule a few hours in the future, attempts always failed. I’d enter the exact address used the first time and it would not recognize, or it would default to an address down the street and not let me change it. Or I’d attempt from a restaurant and it would never accept the address. Or sometimes it would allow me to nearly compete the entire schedule and cancel on me. When it works, it’s great. The driver can generate payment from the app which is super convenient but it needs to work better and more often.

I used this app for a few days. It’s easy to use but not good at providing feedback. Like when I book a taxi it does not show me where the taxi is in maps or how far away it is. Except when I book it shows estimated time. After that the app sometimes rebooks another cab in the middle of waiting. Also they want credit card info to be saved for future bookings. Realtime bookings like right now are supported though. Some rough edges but a life savior. The Uber in Florence is spotty at best. And very pricey like twice the regular cab prices.