How Texti AI Mobility Inc. prices a trip, what happens to the hold on your card, and exactly what a cancellation costs — stated in the same terms our systems actually apply.
By using the Texti conversational service over WhatsApp, or the web-based trip pages we link to from that chat, you agree to these terms.
Texti AI Mobility Inc. is a Newfoundland and Labrador corporation (Corporation No. 101249) with its registered office at 51 Viking Road, St. John's, NL A1B 1J1, Canada. Transportation-network services are offered only while and where the company holds the approvals required by applicable law. We do not employ drivers. We provide a digital platform that uses conversational AI and automated dispatch to connect passengers with independent, provincially licensed Class 4 commercial operators. Your passenger contract and payment are with Texti AI Mobility Inc.; the assigned driver independently fulfils the transportation service.
Every fare is quoted in the chat before you confirm, and that quoted number is what you pay. It is calculated from the mapped route distance, the projected trip duration, a flat platform booking fee, and any surge multiplier in effect at the time of quoting.
All quoted fares are tax-inclusive. The 15% Newfoundland and Labrador Harmonized Sales Tax is already contained in the number you see — nothing is added at the end.
To keep drivers available during predictable peaks across metro St. John's, fares scale by a multiplier during these local windows. All times are Newfoundland local time.
| Window | Local context | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Mon–Fri, 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM | Morning commute — hospitals, MUN, government offices | 1.2× |
| Mon–Fri, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM | Afternoon commute — Kenmount Rd, Team Gushue Highway | 1.3× |
| Fri & Sat, 10:30 PM – 3:30 AM | Nightlife — George Street and the downtown core | 1.5× |
| All other times | Off-peak base rate | 1.0× |
A multiplier may also apply outside these windows when riders significantly outnumber available drivers. No fare is ever multiplied by more than 1.5×, whichever condition applies, and the flat booking fee is never multiplied at all. The multiplier is already contained in the fare you are shown, so it can never increase after you confirm.
When you confirm a trip, a temporary pre-authorization hold for the exact quoted fare is placed on your saved card or PayPal account. This verifies funds; it is not a charge. We never receive or store your card number — payment credentials are held by our payment providers.
The final fare is captured when the trip completes. If a trip is cancelled, the hold is released or partly captured as set out in section 4. Depending on your bank, a released hold can take 1–3 business days to disappear from your statement.
In accordance with Newfoundland and Labrador Regulation 96/23, section 6(1)(f) under the Highway Traffic Act, no trip begins until the matched driver has been disclosed to you.
Before the trip starts you receive, in the chat:
You must then explicitly accept or refuse that vehicle. If you refuse, you are not charged anything, the hold stays in place, that driver is excluded, and we automatically search for another. Refusing a vehicle is never treated as a cancellation.
Cancellation fees are calculated purely from elapsed time, measured against the server timestamp recorded when a driver accepted your trip. No estimate, distance figure or judgement call is involved.
| When you cancel | Fee | What happens to your hold |
|---|---|---|
| Before a driver accepts | $0.00 | Released in full |
| Within 2 minutes of a driver accepting | $0.00 | Released in full |
| 2 to 5 minutes after a driver accepted | $5.00 CAD | Fee captured; the remainder released automatically |
| More than 5 minutes after a driver accepted | $10.00 CAD | Fee captured; the remainder released automatically |
Cancellation fees are tax-inclusive and are capped at these amounts. They do not scale with distance, surge or fare size. The majority of each fee is paid to the driver whose working time was reserved for you.
If your driver reaches the pickup point, waits more than 5 minutes, and you do not board, they may end the trip and report a no-show. This captures a flat $5.00 CAD fee against your payment method and releases the remainder of the hold.
A driver cannot trigger this early. The five-minute wait is measured from the server timestamp recorded when they marked themselves arrived, and the platform refuses any earlier attempt.
If a driver reaches your pickup point and waits more than 5 minutes, a cancellation after that point is charged at the $5.00 rate even if you are still inside the two-minute grace window. The grace window protects a change of mind, not a driver left waiting at the kerb.
We search for up to 5 minutes, widening the area as we go and telling you when we do. If no driver accepts within that window, the request is cancelled automatically, your hold is voided, and you are charged nothing.
For every trip involving a cancellation fee, Texti AI Mobility Inc. records:
These are server-side facts, not estimates. If you dispute a charge with your bank or card issuer, we will provide this record to the payment provider and to your financial institution as evidence of the service reserved on your behalf. The trip reference shown in your cancellation message is the same reference that appears in that record.
If you believe a fee was applied in error, contact us first — replying in the same WhatsApp thread reaches our team, and we would rather correct a mistake directly than through your bank.
In accordance with NLR 96/23 section 7(2), Texti AI Mobility Inc. is cashless. Drivers do not accept cash. All payment is processed through the platform against the card or PayPal account you have linked, and a receipt is issued to you in the chat after every completed trip.
We may update these terms. The version in force for any given trip is the version published at the time you confirmed that trip. Material changes to fares or cancellation fees will be communicated in the chat before they take effect.