HireDiamond — Why we retired HireWinston

HireWinston has transitioned into an app platform for existing taxi companies. In Toronto, we've partnered with Diamond Taxicab.

Download the Diamond iPhone app here or book rides online here.

Here's why:

First things first — thanks to everyone who helped along the way with HireWinston. Our users' enthusiasm is the biggest reason we found a better way to simplify taxi bookings.

HireWinston taught us that we'd built a user experience passengers love; more than 90% of HireWinston passengers came back to the app after taking a ride. But we kept hearing the same feedback, which we couldn't resolve on our own: not enough cars during busy times.

To solve the problem, we had to work with the existing players in our industry: taxi companies. So our team piled into a car and drove to San Diego and back visiting dozens of taxi companies, learning exactly how they work.

The first result is the Diamond Taxicab app, now available in the iTunes app store. We couldn't be more thrilled with the improvement over the HireWinston app as well as other booking options.

The Diamond app has twenty-six times as many drivers in Toronto as HireWinston and includes the features we know matter most, like being able to see that a taxi is actually en-route on a map. We're confident the Diamond app can save you even more time and stress than HireWinston.

You can download the Diamond iPhone app here (or book rides online here). Please let us know what you think.

Diamond's is the first of 12 apps we're launching for taxi companies in 11 cities, and we could not have done it without feedback from our early customers, so thanks again.

Happy travels,
Aidan, Krista, and Yilun
founders@fleetbit.com