Infinite Peripherals
Infinite Peripherals is a leading innovator of enterprise mobility, providing scalable and customized solutions to a range of industries including transportation, retail, healthcare, warehousing and direct store distribution, hospitality, and entertainment. With over one million solutions deployed, Infinite Peripherals is committed to delivering best-in-class hardware and software products to help businesses do more.
Summary
- When Washington, D.C., mandated all 8,000 city taxis to transition to a digital meter platform, ezMetr was the chosen platform.
- Square Reader SDK was the primary choice for processing all passenger payments and driver reimbursements.
- In just under six months of full operation, ezMetr has managed over 20 million miles, 12 million passengers, and 7 million trips.
- The Square + ezMetr platform lowers driver costs, increases visibility and safety, provides digital receipts via text and email, and allows access to new services for passengers such as pooled shared rides.
Citywide Conversion of Analog to Digital Taximeter Platform in Washington, D.C.
Existing taxi technology is antiquated and cost-prohibitive with high processing rates and expensive equipment. These legacy systems have historically prevented modern innovation within the industry. ezMetr is the first-of-its-kind digital system designed to provide services that consumers expect today, such as e-hail, ridesharing, and other digital conveniences like instant receipts, tracking, and transparency.
As part of new digital regulatory requirements introduced by the District of Columbia, drivers and fleets now have a choice of technology providers that are also ushering in a new host of features that benefit both passengers and drivers. Drivers register with an approved local fleet company and select their digital meter platform.
The ezMetr + Square solution is a modern advanced digital meter. The ezMetr driver meter app, which utilizes the Square Reader SDK and is built for iOS and Android, is currently the predominant platform. The system validates licensed drivers logging on to a pure digital meter app. Upon sign-in, the system instantly pairs with the in-car Square Reader and is ready for drivers and passengers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The combination of ezMetr features and Square processing significantly reduces costs and lowers the barrier to entry for equipment and services available to drivers. These same features and costs are a major win for passengers using the service, making the ezMetr + Square solution an obvious choice.
“This is one of the biggest innovations that the taxi industry will ever see,” said Ernest Chrappah, the director of D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles. “Riders will have the ability to pay by phone, credit card, or cash. Riders will have lower fares because drivers and their companies, during slow periods, can discount fares.” This dynamic discounting functionality is one of many new and innovative platform features including live taxi availability and ratings systems for drivers.
“This is one of the biggest innovations that the taxi industry will ever see. Riders will have the ability to pay by phone, credit card, or cash. Riders will have lower fares because drivers and their companies, during slow periods, can discount fares.”
- Ernest Chrappah, Director of D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles
“The Square Reader SDK and Square APIs have been very easy to work with and are enterprise-grade. The simplicity and built-in PCI-DSS compliance is taking the complexity out of large-scale deployments and is an easy choice for our development efforts,” said John Broderick, CTO of Infinite Peripherals, the developer of the ezMetr platform. In addition to the native apps running on iOS and Android, all systems are centrally managed by a cloud-based platform with multiple redundancies.
As part of the success of this digital change and the Square payment technology implementation in Washington, D.C., a number of other cities are now in the process of making similar moves.