Taxi Diamond sold, creating new giant in Montreal taxi industry
Taxelco buys city's largest taxi company, now controls 40% of market
The largest taxi company in Montreal has been bought by a private equity firm dedicated to greening the taxi industry.
Taxelco, a division of Alexandre Taillefer's investment firm, announced Tuesday that it had acquired Taxi Diamond. With its existing stake in Taxi Hochelaga and Téo Taxi, Taxelco will now control roughly 40 per cent of the Montreal taxi market.
Taxi Diamond has a fleet of 1,720 vehicles and operates mostly in the downtown and western parts of the island.
It is the most aggressive move yet by Taxelco, a subsidiary of XPND Capital. It bought Taxi Hochelaga, Montreal's second-largest taxi company, last year. In November it launched Téo Taxi, a fleet of fully electric taxis.
"Téo is a phenomenal success but we didn't have enough supply," Taillefer told 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."
Taxi Diamond's management team will remain in place, and its drivers will remain self-employed workers. Téo Taxi's drivers are salaried workers, earning $15 an hour.
Taxi Diamond had already announced in April its intention to transition its fleet to hybrid or electric cars. That process will continue under Taxelco, 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, said Taxelco is eyeing further expansion into the taxi-bus and 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 car – and even their first car."