HAGERSTOWN, MD - Hagerstown now has a fleet of taxis, and they don't just give you a ride.  They also entertain.

They’re a sign of a city working to grow.  Hagerstown now has a cab service of its own.

It's one month after the city council approved taxicab stands.  Now, real estate developer Mike Deming's newest venture, Downtown Taxi, is up and running.  The service offers five cabs.

“We believe there's a tremendous demand, and we're going to move as quickly as we can to put as many vehicles on the road as we can,” Deming told NBC25.

Before, only a door-to-door sedan service was available.  The difference now - patrons can hail marked cabs or they can pick them up at three cab stand locations.  Two are located on Washington Street and one is still up in the air.

Within the next two months, the owners of Downtown Taxi hope to add a new element to the service.  If you're out and you don't want to call for a cab, you can send a text message to request to have one pick you up wherever you might be.

“I know that that's a prevalent way of communicating now, and we feel like we needed to capitalize on that,” Deming said.

On long rides, patrons can watch a movie.  On shorter trips, they'll see advertisements.

Deming added, “We have a number of businesses downtown, and we feel that there's a lot of synergies amongst the advertisements or the potential advertisements.”

“I think it can only help.  It increases the activity around the square,” said Aaron Mace, who owns the Alter Ego store in downtown Hagerstown.

Deming says the cars will start off with set rates, but he hopes to move soon to a metered system.

The cabs will be in service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The number for the services is 240-625-9920.

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