Taxi Driver Online

Cabtivate hails taxi screen deal with Patons

TERRY MURDEN


A COMPANY pioneering the installation of advertising screens in the back of cabs has signed a deal with Scotland’s biggest taxi business.

The tie-up between Cabtivate Media and John Paton Group, Scotland’s sole distributor of black hackney cabs, is regarded as a milestone in the development of the in-taxi entertainment and advertising system.

Every new black cab in Scotland is put on the road by Glasgow-based Patons, and under the deal the firm will also install and distribute the Cabtivate system, which allows the content to be shown on a flat screen and updated remotely using the latest wireless technology.

Edinburgh-based Cabtivate already has its flat screen technology fitted in 30 cabs in the city following a year-long trial, and will roll out around 300 more over the next three years.

The firm also won approval from licensing bosses in Glasgow to begin introducing the system in more than 300 cabs in the city from March.

Following the deal, Patons anticipates increased sales. More owners are expected to invest in new vehicles because income from Cabtivate can be offset against the cost of a taxi. That will mean a saving of £10,700 on the purchase of a new or used vehicle.

Mark Greenhalgh, managing director of Cabtivate, said: "This is by far the most practical way to get our system into taxis. It is also reassuring for taxi owners who are very familiar with Patons, and comfortable dealing with them."

Roy McMaster, head of sales and marketing at Patons, said: "This system is excellent for our customers who are the taxi owners and drivers because they see a financial benefit.

"It is also an added benefit for taxi users, and anything which makes the fare-paying passenger’s journey more enjoyable can only be good news."

One of the main attractions of the Cabtivate system is that content can be updated remotely using wireless technology, without any need to disturb or distract the driver.

Dozens of advertisers already use the system and Cabtivate is negotiating with a global entertainment news specialist as well as Scotland-wide broadcasters to provide additional content, including news, weather, local information and short films.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Making more money out of the cab trade I see.

yes but with a reported £10k off the price of a cab, perhaps it should be applauded.

Kind of like the idea of sending subliminal messages to punters, such as give the driver a tip etc lol

regards

Captain cab

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Fiona McCade: Driven mad by taxi TV

Imagine you’ve just arrived back at the airport after a long holiday. You haven’t seen a newspaper or a television in weeks and you need to know what’s new. What’s the easiest way to find out? Simple. Jump into the back of a taxi and ask the driver what’s been happening.
At the very least, you’ll get a comprehensive inventory of every important talking point, most probably a rundown of the Premierleague and, undoubtedly, the driver’s expert opinion on all of it. It’s practically a public service.

I use this method often and I’ll miss it if John Paton Group, the Scottish taxi manufacturers, and Cabtivate, the media company, get their way. They’ve already introduced flat-screen televisions in 30 Edinburgh cabs and, from March, they’ll be rolling out the technology to taxis in both the capital and Glasgow.

As well as the inevitable advertising, the new technology will enable customers to watch lots of diverting stuff: news, weather, local information broadcasts and even Scottish Screen short films. What’s more, drivers who use the system will save £10,700 on the cost of a new cab, so it seems like everybody wins.

Well, everybody except me. My experience of life has been broadened immeasurably by chatting with the sort of know-it-all orators often found driving taxis. There’s nothing quite like a good verbal scrap with a complete stranger and, you never know, you might even learn something.

I already spend way too much of my time staring at screens, so when I leap into a cab, it’s in anticipation of some stimulating human contact and, hopefully, a good mutual rant. It’s faster — and cheaper — than therapy.

It’s been scientifically proven that taxi drivers’ superior experience of navigation, arithmetic and decision-making causes part of their brains, the posterior hippocampus, to become enlarged. This explains why they keep winning Mastermind, as well as possibly indicating why some of them can’t help talking out of their posteriors. Even so, you’re almost guaranteed some sort of rousing conversation.

These new screens could destroy the cabbie-customer relationship for ever. He’ll be frustrated that he can’t share his thoughts on the Iraqi elections and you’ll miss out on all the amazing facts he’s accumulated in his bulging hippocampus. If I’d been watching a film rather than listening to the sage behind the wheel, I’d never have discovered how to give mouth-to-mouth to a kitten, the truth behind the Kashmir conflict (from the former second consul at the British Embassy in Delhi) and how to cope when you’re a taxi driver called Schumacher.

If we lose contact with cab drivers, we won’t only lose a bit of humanity in our lives, we’ll miss out on an education.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

She should come on here, I think she's just about described all of us there.

B. Lucky