Chicago taxi apps

Taxi! London-based Hailo and Chicago startup SnagCab have rolled up as rivals to Uber, the Silicon Valley scamp that sends taxis and town cars to your front door after a few clicks on your smartphone. Sadly, the apps might soon go the way of the Checker cab: A set of regulations proposed at a conference last month in Washington, D.C., and written with input of reps from 15 cities, including Chicago, would make it illegal for cabs to accept fare requests from smartphones while driving. That’s in addition to proposed regulations from Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection that would require private car services to charge a predetermined rate, killing the business model of Uber’s town car arm. “We continue to work with [Uber] and others to ensure we have modern laws that accommodate modern transportation,”says a BACP spokesperson, skirting the question of if it would push for legislation. Until then, all hail the cab-hailing app!