Wired magazine surveys “Designing the Taxi”, the first round of the Design Trust’s taxi-related innovations from various New York designers. The design proposals included Rachel Abrams’ Hailstone, a cashless payment and loyalty program for the industry. She and visual designer, Michael Dyer, both then working at Imagination Inc., articulated how cab-related, location-based services would work. This charette anticipated (not yet heard of) Uber and Lyft’s myriad ride promotions, but well before that, kicked off a decade of transit work for Turnstone. Mairi Beautyman wrote at the time,
Imagination’s Hailstone
Concept: Cashless loyalty card
What’s new: Earn frequent-taxi miles! Get double mileage when you ride to an area of high demand and low supply (like a sports game or the theater district). No need for late-night ATM stops.