San Francisco's DeSoto Cab Company Ditches Longtime Name For Flywheel App
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — The oldest cab company in San Francisco is rebranding itself to keep up with its high-tech competition. After more than eight decades, DeSoto is hopping on board with Flywheel.
"Frankly, with the new deregulated competition that is out here today we really felt we needed to recast ourselves to the public," Hansu Kim of DeSoto Cab told KPIX 5.
Like other cab companies, DeSoto is getting killed by app driven rideshare companies like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar that have a hipper and more efficient image.
"To make sure that we are perceived differently to the public," Kim said.
Now DeSoto is taking the name of Redwood City based driver app Flywheel. They've added two other names as well:
"You have the Google Play and Apple store download logos on it. We want the public to know that the taxi industry has this technology," Kim said.
Rival Yellow Cab - has an app service as well, but has no plans to change names. "I think it signals kind of an awaking that we need to do more," said Nathan Dwir of Yellow Cab.
Repainting DeSoto's 250 cabs came at a cost of $800 per vehicle.
The DeSoto cab company has had its name for more than 80 years. Flywheel has been around for six years.