How City Taxi Modernized Dispatch After 50 Years on the Road

For more than 50 years, City Taxi has been part of everyday life in Charlottetown. Founded in the early 1970s and still owned by the Corrigan family, the company has grown alongside the community it serves. Reliability and local knowledge have always mattered. So has a strong sense of local responsibility.

Today, City Taxi serves Charlottetown, Stratford, and Cornwall, while also handling longer trips across Prince Edward Island and occasional off-island journeys. The fleet typically includes between 55 and 65 vehicles, supported by around 80 drivers. While the operation has expanded over time, the business remains family-run in both structure and mindset.  

Dispatching Before Going Digital

Dispatching at City Taxi was handled over radio for most of the company’s history. Dispatchers could see roughly where vehicles were located, but everything else relied on spoken communication. Trip details were often repeated, and drivers had no on-screen navigation or job information.

Caller ID was not available on the company’s phone lines for many years. As call volumes increased, the manual process became increasingly demanding for dispatchers.

“Every booking had to be created manually, even for regular customers who called daily. Dispatchers gathered addresses and timing call by call. During quiet periods this was manageable. During busy ones, it quickly became demanding.”

— Rob MacMillan, Dispatcher, City Taxi

Peak shifts exposed the limits of the radio system. Dispatchers competed for drivers’ attention, messages were missed, and conversations overlapped. Drivers kept one ear on the radio while driving because missing a call was not an option. For new drivers, the learning curve was steep, and managing several rookies at once could stretch even experienced dispatchers thin.

Choosing and Implementing a Digital System

When City Taxi began exploring digital dispatch options, the team spoke with several providers. 

“TaxiCaller stood out early for its flexibility and for how closely the system reflected real taxi operations rather than ideal workflows.”

— Joey Corrigan, Operations Manager, City Taxi

A visit to a neighbouring city already using TaxiCaller helped confirm that impression. Seeing the system in daily use made it easier to understand how it would perform under real conditions. Support also played an important role. From the beginning, City Taxi’s account manager at TaxiCaller, José, took time to understand how the operation worked and where the challenges lay. His steady guidance made the transition easier to trust.

Moving away from radio dispatch was not simple. City Taxi operates with one of the more complex pricing structures in the industry, built around a large zone-based model with hundreds of zone-to-zone combinations and multiple price types. In total, more than 3,300 zone relationships had to be mapped into the system.

The work was detailed and, at times, demanding. The platform's flexibility made the setup possible without changing how City Taxi already operated. Close collaboration during implementation helped keep the transition stable, even with added complexity.

Day-to-Day Impact and Measurable Results

Once the system was in place, everyday work began to feel different. Dispatching became faster and more predictable, especially for regular customers whose recent trips now appear automatically. Time calls are easier to manage, and dispatchers have a clear way to reach customers when needed.

Communication between dispatchers and drivers has also changed. Drivers no longer compete for radio time or strain to catch instructions. Job details and GPS guidance arrive through the app, allowing drivers to focus on the road instead of radio chatter.

Customers notice the change as well. Automated messages let them know when their taxi is on the way and when it arrives. That reassurance reduces follow-up calls and helps trips move more smoothly. Training new drivers has also become easier, with built-in navigation guiding them through pickups and drop-offs during busy shifts.

The impact is most visible during peak periods such as weekend nights, bar closings, and weather-related surges.

“Our busiest dispatcher can now handle more than 50% more calls per shift compared to the radio-based system, without adding staff.”

— Joey Corrigan, Operations Manager, City Taxi

That additional capacity matters most when demand is high. More vehicles stay moving, higher call volumes are handled, and communication remains clear throughout the shift.

Looking Ahead

After more than five decades on the road, City Taxi remains focused on safe and reliable transportation across Prince Edward Island. Technology continues to change, and customer expectations change with it. The company plans to keep strengthening its digital tools while staying true to its community roots.

Asked whether they would recommend TaxiCaller to other taxi companies, the answer is straightforward. The system has modernized daily operations and made work easier for dispatchers, drivers, and customers alike.

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