Taxi app "Hailo" starts offering payment service!
-Cardless and sign-less taxi fares payment possible-

19 Sep 2013

Halo Network Japan K.K.
GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.
JCB Corporation
Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited

Halo Network Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Kiyotaka Fujii, hereinafter referred to as "Halo") is pleased to announce that GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, President: Issei Ainoura, hereinafter referred to as GMO-PG), JCB Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Takao Kawanishi, hereinafter referred to as JCB), and Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Hideo Shimada, hereinafter referred to as "JCB"): With the cooperation of Sumitomo Mitsui Card), on Thursday, September 19 of this year, Halo launched a payment service in Japan Japan that eliminates the need to pay when you get off the bus by registering your credit card information in advance and requesting a ride on the smartphone-based taxi dispatch support app "Hailo" that Halo is developing in major cities around the world.

First of all, we will start the service with taxis of the Hokuko Umeda Hitaku Business Cooperative in Osaka, Naniwa Kotsu Co., Ltd., Nakagawa Kotsu Co., Ltd., and All Osaka Kotsu Co., Ltd.

The taxi dispatch support app "Hailo" for smartphones acquires the location information of "taxi drivers" and "users who want to take a taxi" who are looking for users, and provides optimal matching in a short time to two people who have not been able to meet before. Users can download the Hailo app on their smartphones, call a taxi from the app when they want to take a taxi, and the nearest taxi from the contract taxi company will check the user's location and pick it up quickly.

For users, there is no need to tell the location when calling a taxi by phone, and smooth arrangements can be made, dramatically increasing convenience. In addition, with this payment service, you can use your card information (JCB, AMEX, Diners, Visa, MasterCard) in advance for cardless and signless use. In London, this service has improved the credit usage rate in taxis from the 10% level to the 60% level, and has been highly evaluated by users.

In addition, taxi companies will be able to quickly dispatch vehicles, improve service, increase turnover, reduce the number of people who accept calls, and reduce operating costs.

[Features of this service]

When the driver gets off the bus, simply enter the taxi fare on his or her smartphone and the credit payment can be completed without a card or sign.

Users can register multiple card information in advance. This makes it easy to use the card according to the purpose of use, such as personal use and corporate use, and improves convenience for users.

[Flow of this service (user)]

(1) Download the "Hailo" app to your smartphone

For iPhone (iOS 4.3 or later): Tap the [Link to App Store Hailo app page] icon to search and download Hailo
For Android (2.2 and later): Tap the "Link to Google Play Store Hailo app page" icon to search and download Hailo
Access the Google Play Store from the app content of the au Smart Pass and download it

(2) Pre-register your credit card information on the "Hailo" app (multiple cards can be registered)

(3) Call a taxi with the "Hailo" app and select your credit card as payment option

(4) Check the meter fee and usage statement sent to your smartphone when you get off the bus.

The credit cards that can be handled with this service are JCB, AMEX, Diners, Visa, and Mastercard, of which JCB, AMEX, and Diners are provided by JCB, Visa and Mastercard are provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Card, and the payment system is provided by GMO-PG.

This service will be rolled out in cities in Japan in the future. Users will be able to use common services in each city when traveling on business trips. It can also be used when traveling overseas in Halo's service cities. In addition, users visiting Japan from overseas will also be able to use this service in Halo service cities in Japan, dramatically improving convenience.

In addition, Halo will consider expanding its use outside of Japan with JCB, the only international credit card brand from Japan and a membership base of more than 80 million mainly in Asia, including Japan. As a result, we believe that we will be able to provide advanced Halo services to JCB card members around the world.

Halo, GMO-PG, JCB and Sumitomo Mitsui Card will continue to develop a variety of services to improve customer convenience.

* The taxi dispatch support app "Hailo" has been deployed in 12 major cities around the world, including London, Dublin, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, and Madrid, in about one and a half years since its launch in London in November 2011, and has already reached more than 700,000 users. In Japan Japan, we will provide services under a capital alliance and business alliance with KDDI CORPORATION.

[Attachments]

At the moment, the following cities are available in Halo.
Europe: London, Barcelona, Madrid, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick
North America: New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Toronto

Efficient matching service between customers and taxis through smartphones "Hailo"

The smartphone taxi app "Hailo" acquires the location information of "taxi drivers" and "users who want to take a taxi" looking for passengers, and provides optimal matching in a short time for two people who have not been able to meet before. It is a best practice that streamlines offline "demand" and "supply" with the power of online (IT). In addition, one of the features of the taxi app "Hailo" is that it consists of two different apps: a driver-only app and a user-only app. The app was originally developed by three London drivers as founding members, and the user's and driver's perspectives based on their thorough knowledge of the taxi scene contributed to the optimization of the app.
Hailo is also a service that was born with the hope of improving the efficiency of how busy modern people use their time and enriching their lives. Since its launch in London in 2010, it has already been widely used in 12 cities around the world, including New York and Madrid. In addition, it was selected as the App Store Best of App 2012, and has been highly praised not only for the convenience of the service itself, but also for its intuitive user interface and usability, which allows you to call a taxi with two taps. In the future, Halo Network Japan will contribute to society by responding to foreign tourists who have already registered in other cities, including those in Japan.

Features of the taxi app "Hailo"

≪ Features 1≫ Just 2 taps to call a taxi
"Hailo" can be called with a minimum of 2 taps to call a taxi to a designated location.
Of course, you can also call a taxi by selecting from the places you have recently used, or by specifying the name of the building or station in detail.

≪ Feature 2≫ Taxi arrival notification by push message
When a taxi arrives at the location specified by the user, "Hailo" will send a push notification from the driver through the app notifying the driver of the arrival. As in the past, if a taxi does not arrive immediately at the designated location, the situation of waiting will be eliminated, and it is possible to go to the meeting place and get on immediately after notifying the taxi of arrival.

≪ Feature 3≫ You can get off the bus immediately without signing by pre-registering your credit card.
By registering a credit card in advance, users can get off the bus cardless or signless after arriving at their destination. It is possible to make effective use of the time of busy businessmen.

≪ Feature 4≫ It is possible to identify a forgotten taxi from the ride history
With "Hailo", which records the ride history, it is possible to easily identify and inquire about the forgotten taxi on the app.