A new Williamsburg-based service lets you request a car going from the Billyburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Boerum Hill, or Fort Greene areas simply by texting your coordinates to the number 767222 (SMSCab). We can think of a few situations in which this would be useful — say, the bar is loud, or you’re slurring your speech too much to be understood, or you don’t want to hurt your date’s feelings by actually speaking the words, “I’d like two separate cars, please” — but in general we just like the idea of not having to deal with spazzed-out dispatchers, radio static, and busy signals. But how does this brilliant theory work in execution?

At 6:51 p.m. we requested a car going from Greenpoint to Nolita. The first two texts were automatic responses. The third, which came about five minutes later, was none too assuring: “So sorry but we’re SWAMPED.” (The fleet consists of 30 cars.) But then about two minutes later, we received a text offering a $15 ride in ten minutes — pretty much the same price and time quoted by the car service we would otherwise have used, Northside. Our verdict: Worth a shot next time you’re heading from Hotel Delmano to the motel to the Holiday Inn…

SMSCab [Official site]