While it's not any great benefit to someone living in the middle of nowhere like me, TaxiMe offers a nice service for city dwellers.

By querying Google Maps for distance information TaxiMe will quickly provide you with an estimated cab fare. It's a great concept, but I ran into a rather bothersome issue. While Google Maps will handle input like "Polo Park Winnipeg mb" without a hitch and automatically find the street address, TaxiMe won't.

While the TaxiMe form does ask you to "please make sure the address is typed in the following format," most of us probably don't know the street address of our shops or restaurants. That means you've got to go to Google Maps first to locate the address, then head back to TaxiMe and execute your query.

Still, the estimation is pretty slick, its rates are adjustable, and you'll also be given phone listings for relevant taxi companies. For anyone that needs to cab it to an unknown destination, TaxiMe is a nice way to figure out how much cash you're going to need to get there.

[via Listio]

Need to get to the airport, but you're not sure how much the cab will cost? TaxiWiz to the rescue. Just type your starting point and destination into the web site, and up pops a Google Map which calculates the distance and the estimated cab fare.

Right now TaxiWiz covers 8 cities, New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and San Diego.

The are also mobile versions for each city, which basically means you get the same web site, but without the map image.

Of course, the site only gives you accurate cab fares if your driver's not trying to rip you off. Since most of these cities have regulations in place to standardize cab fares, that means you should make sure to get in an official, license cab. That guy on the street corner who drives people around in the back of his station wagon can charge you whatever he feels like.

[via Uneasy Silence]

If you live in Manhattan, hailing a taxi is about as easy as walking out your front door. But for many Americans, finding a cab when you need one can be an exercise in futility.

Enter 1800cabride.com. Entrepeneur (and New York cab driver) Jason Diaz says he wants to make it the 1-800-flowers of the taxi industry.

Here's how it works. You log on to the company's website or call the 800 number and a local cab company is contacted with instructions to come pick you up. To make matters simpler, you get a flat fee including the fare and tip. You pay with a credit card when you make the reservation.

You can request a cab with as little as ten minutes notice, although you're only guaranteed service if you make a reservation three hours in advance. Right now, the service is available in 40 metropolitan areas, with more expected soon.

[via Gadling]

Cabs are expensive, especially when considering that in most situations one can take public transport for about a fourth of the price. But for those times when you simply have to get somewhere quickly and with minimal hassle, taking a taxi is often the only option. Readers in large megalopolis's will be familiar with the idea of sharing a cab with a stranger, and the rest of us might have seen the idea come up in movies or TV. Most of the time cab sharing arises out of one of two situations: Two people standing on a corner on a Saturday each trying to flag down the one available cab, or friends going to or from a common location. Hitchsters takes the concept to a whole new level with their service (now in beta) matches people up to share taxi's and allows users to specify start and end points, co-rider preference (male or female), and even flight information for cabs in and out of the airport. Though the site currently only supports New York City, they promise to expand to other cities soon (San Francisco, please!).

[Via Product Dose]