SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A San Francisco taxi company is ditching its 82-year-old brand and renaming itself after a smartphone app in the latest sign of how mobile technology is changing the way people get a ride.

The transformation dumps DeSoto Cab's Depression-era identity in favor of Flywheel, an app that helps traditional taxis compete against increasingly popular ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.

"We think we are pioneering the way taxi cabs need to be in the future," DeSoto President Hansu Kim said in a Wednesday interview. "There is a perception that the taxi industry is backward so we need to recast ourselves as being technologically innovative."

The newly minted Flywheel taxis will be owned and operated independently from the Flywheel app, which is made by a 6-year-old startup in Redwood City, California, a suburb located about 25 miles south of San Francisco.

As part of their makeover, DeSoto's 220 taxis are being repainted from navy blue, turquoise and white to red, with the Flywheel name in white.

Flywheel isn't charging DeSoto for adopting its name, according to Flywheel CEO Rakesh Mathur. Instead, Flywheel hopes to profit from the additional exposure that it gains from cabs bearing its name.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/desoto-cab-company-taking-name-212049766.html#esNAJIN
-----------------------------------------------
STOKE

 A 58-YEAR-OLD taxi driver has been jailed after he grew £20,000 worth of cannabis in a house.

Paul Sims rented a property in Burnham Street, Fenton, which he converted into a cannabis factory.

The defendant was wearing a white boiler suit and trimming the plants when police raided the property on July 28.

Officers found 55 plants which would have had a potential yield of 5.24 kilograms of skunk-type cannabis and a wholesale value of about £20,000.

Read more: http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Taxi-driver-jailed-cops-pound-20k-cannabis-haul/story-26049461-detail/story.html#ixzz3SAXbdxn0
--------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK (AP) -- Uber, the popular ride-hailing app, is hitting taxicabs where it hurts: The medallion business.

Taxi companies make money by charging drivers for medallions, or licenses to drive their cabs.

In a note to investors on Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Sean Darby said taxi medallions are not the "safe haven" in terms of investing that they used to be as taxi companies face increasing competition from Uber and similar services.

"After many years of rising prices due to limited supply, the average price of a single (New York City) taxi medallion fell around 20 percent from their peak in 2013" because of the growing popularity of Uber and other car-hailing apps, he wrote. He said the situation is similar in Boston and Chicago.

He said it might be time to bet against taxi medallions in 2015.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/analyst-taxi-medallions-no-safe-230338614.html#IvlliEO