Taxi Diamond sold, creating new giant in Montreal taxi industry - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 08:03 AM | Calgary | 0.0°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Montreal

Taxi Diamond sold, creating new giant in Montreal taxi industry

Taxelco, a division of Alexandre Taillefer's investment firm, announced Tuesday that it acquired Taxi Diamond. With its existing stake in Taxi Hochelaga and To Taxi, Taxelco will control roughly 40 per cent of the Montreal taxi market.

Taxelco buys city's largest taxi company, now controls 40% of market

With the acquisition of Taxi Diamond, Taxelco will now have a fleet of 1,720 vehicles. (Radio Canada)

The largest taxi company in Montreal has been bought by a private equity firm dedicated to greening the taxi industry.

Taxelco, a division ofAlexandreTaillefer's investment firm,announced Tuesday that it had acquired Taxi Diamond. With its existing stake inTaxi HochelagaandTo Taxi,Taxelco will now control roughly 40 per cent of the Montreal taxi market.

Taxi Diamond has a fleet of 1,720 vehiclesand operates mostly in the downtown and western parts of the island.

It is the most aggressive move yet byTaxelco, a subsidiary ofXPNDCapital. It boughtTaxiHochelaga, Montreal'ssecond-largest taxi company, last year. In November it launchedTo Taxi, a fleet of fully electric taxis.

"To is a phenomenal success but we didn't have enough supply,"Taillefertold Radio-Canada.

"It's hard to get a taxi in rush hour, and we quickly understood that we needed around 1,500 to 1,600 vehicles to meet the expectations of Montrealers."

Alexandre Taillefer posing with his To Taxi fleet in 2015. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Taxi Diamond's management team will remain in place, and its drivers will remain self-employed workers.To Taxi's drivers are salaried workers, earning$15 an hour.

Taxi Diamond had already announced in April its intention to transition its fleet tohybrid or electric cars. That process will continue underTaxelco, which wants to have 2,000 electric taxis on Montreal roads by 2020.

Taillefer, who is best known to many Quebecers as one of the "dragons"on Radio-Canada's version of Dragons'Den,saidTaxelco is eyeing further expansion into the taxi-busand school-bus markets.

"We have the ambition to offer citizens of big cities transport solutions that are integrated with public transit and bike-sharing systems," he added.

"We want to provide Montrealers with a solution so that they can get rid of their second carand even their first car."