Summoning a cab in Harrisburg could now be as easy as pushing a few buttons on a smartphone.

Although rideshare services Uber and Lyft aren't operating in the area, another smartphone application geared toward providing transportation has emerged in recent weeks.

CabbyGo is the brainchild of Joshua Freedman, a Pittsburgh entrepreneur, who began promoting his new company to Harrisburg residents recently on Twitter.

"Hey Harrisburg! Need a ride?" a Tweet from Wednesday said. "CabbyGo is up and running, just install, Push-a-Button-Get-a-Ride! It's that easy!"

CabbyGo launched in Pittsburgh earlier this year. The company is still in a "soft-launch" phase, Freedman said, until he can get updated versions of his applications approved by the app stores, which he hopes will happen next week.

The Android version works well, but the IOS version for iPhones is still a "little buggy," he said.

Freedman plans to roll the company out nationwide a few weeks after his upgrades are complete, he said.

The big difference between CabbyGo and Uber and Lyft, he said, is that CabbyGo uses existing licensed cab drivers. Freedman said his software simply links the cabs to the customers- he doesn't get paid by either- which keeps him out of the crosshairs of city and state officials and regulators.

Uber and Lyft function with volunteer drivers who use their personal vehicles to make a few bucks. The companies aren't licensed for passenger transportation, which is what has drawn them into legal entanglements across the country.

Just last week, two administrative law judges in Pittsburgh granted the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's request for cease-and-desist orders against the San Francisco-based companies, according to the Associated Press. The PUC says Lyft and Uber are violating state rules that govern paid transportation services.

Freedman said his software is specifically designed to comply with all regulations. He even met with PUC regulators, who contacted him after learning he was operating in Pittsburgh, and they told him he was exempt since he wasn't taking any compensation.

Under his business model, he said he would eventually make money through targeted advertising.

CabbyGo allows riders to choose among competing cab companies, based on price, proximity of drivers and drivers' reliability ratings, Freedman said.

Customers will be able locate cabs via GPS from the drivers' cell phones to verify exactly where a driver is and how quickly the driver could respond to a ride request.

As it stands, Freedman said he has three "carriers" or drivers verified and signed up to provide rides in Harrisburg. One of them, Carlos Jackson, said he's been a taxi driver since 2001.

"It was brought to my attention and I thought I'd give it a try," Jackson said Thursday of CabbyGo. "Every little advantage we can get (to find customers) will help. I'm all for it."

Jackson has received a handful of requests from the app so far, all from different parts of the Greater Harrisburg area.

"I had one in Mechanicsburg and another one in Hershey," he said. "They're pretty much all spread out."

Riders seem surprised that the application actually summoned a cab, he said.

"They're like, 'Oh. Wow. I didn't know this worked here," Jackson said.

Freedman said the company provides about five to 20 rides each day in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. He's hoping the numbers rise as more people learn about the company and as more carriers sign up for the program.

Several local cab companies contacted Thursday by PennLive said they had never heard of CabbyGo. Freedman said he contacted several companies who weren't interested in signing up.

"Some of them are stuck in an old-school mentality where they're afraid of apps," he said.

Freedman even seeks to assuage cab drivers on his website by pointing out, "We're not your competition!"

Freedman said he came up with the idea for CabbyGo after a taxicab failed to show up to give him a ride to a Pirates baseball game a few years ago.

Cabs in Pittsburgh have a reputation for bad customer service, which has helped his company there, he said. That isn't necessarily the case in Harrisburg, he said, but he believes customers will like the tracking and accountability features that the free app provides.

"We're just an online marketplace," he said. "We're like Craigslist for rides."