Taxi Driver Online

Very interesting.

http://www.harrogatetoday.co.uk/ViewArt ... ID=1000211

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IDFIMH

What a great idea. Does anyone know anymore about this system?

We are all hacks but the offices can be a bit pricey for us. So this looks good.

Flyer

sounds good, as long as the hacks actully go to the booked fare (and wait if need be) and not stop for a flagger on the way.

I suppose in a small town then that's fine, but how many HC will run from the town centre to the outskirts to do a local?

Or from the other side of the town to do a local.

Not many I suppose.

Also how do they know who is first? Or if that phone call was a booking for a long job, or just a price inquiry?

I think its a great idea, but I have my doubts.

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IDFIMH

thinking about it your right there. the system saying it goes stright to the driver without the need for a booking office. i guess the drivers text or log in to a system that then feeds out the phone calls on a pro-rate basis.

however i think not going through an office operator will cause a lot of problems. how would the customer ring for a quote. how would a customer be able to get hold of the same driver to change the pick up place or time once a booking to a driver had been made? how will the fare be able to get hold of the same driver to cancel if need be? what call back features does the driver have for no shows?

anyone from the area have any first hand knowledge of this system?
how much do the driver pay to 'subscribe' to this system.

Yes, it seems like the kind of thing that looks good on paper but would be a disaster in practice.

As Sussex implies, it would only work in a big area if it was linked to some kind of zoning system or whatever, and there's no mention of that in the article.

Also, there'll be the usual nonsense like people clearing when they're still on the job, and it would probably be even worse with a system like this because there'll be no one to monitor it in anyway.

And Steveo reminds me of all the difficulties with pre-booked work that I thought I'd forgotten about.

Even in a small town, there's always the crap jobs that no one likes doing - for example, hiking across town to pick up the local alcy, who takes ages to find in the pub, takes even longer to get to the car, and is just going a few hundred yards up the road.

So imagine if the call for the drunk comes in, do you tell him to naff off, agree the job but don't do it, or do it, while most of your colleagues are brooming it when they get it?

So the drivers will start bickering, and the customers will get fed up because the system will be deemed unreliable, and if there's a mish mash of vehicles and standards then they won't know who's turning up, and what about different vehicle requirements and the like - it would only work if all vehicles were similar - eg all saloons or PBs.

If they wanted to get together as a co-op, they would have been better opening a proper office, after all it's a few dozen cars, not just half a dozen.

Another thing, doesn't the new London PH legislation stop drivers taking bookings in the car? If the Govt ever got round to rewriting the provincial legislation, then the system would be knackered.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Seems to be the usual TDO negativity for this one, but we're giving it a go in Lincoln. Costs about a tenner a MONTH, surely worth a go...
Thanks for the info Sussex...

I knew we would agree on something one day.

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IDFIMH

Well good luck to you Jimbo if you're giving it a go, but I think all we were trying to do was to provide an honest assemenent of the possible drawbacks.

Do you agree that the matters that we outlined were drawbacks, or do you think they won't arise, or have you managed to address them?

For example, Lincoln is hardly a village - if you get a call that will hike you from one end of Lincoln to another to do a flagfall run, will you do it?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Ah Zingo?

Didn't that work like this, but it found the nearest cab.

A hackney might feel this gives him his independence but reality is he is just joining a 'virtual' circuit. What happens when he pays his tenner and doesn't get a job all month, he has to have someone who manages this system to moan surely.

It is still a circuit but without a public face apart from the cabbie on the end of the phone.

It will still have all the problems, who answers when all cabbies are busy.

And the real problem is market. Punters will all have there preferred supplier now. How are you going to persuade them to change? Will it be on price? Better quality of service? How about will such a benefit be provided? It will have to be managed won't it. And there we are, back to a circuit where we started, managed by a cooperative.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Yes, the system might be a bit more attractive if it did find the nearest cab, but it'll just find the next one on rotation, and even in towns like Harrogate and Lincoln this doesn't sound too efficient.

But it's be interesting to get Jimbo's feedback on its operation.

As per steveo's points earlier, how it deals with cancellations, price enquiries and the like is anyone's guess.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Yes. Lincoln is a unique City with a small centre so most jobs run out of or back into the centre. i'll keep you posted on how well it all goes.
But we are ready to take the rough with the smooth. If we just say that'll never work, we just slide further down the slippery slope to total PH domination. I sit early mornings at the train station watching PH dropping off fares, and I'm not moving. I'll have some of their work, for a change. See, I'm just a bright eyed optomist at Heart

Are any of the hacks part of a circuit Jim?

Why don't you try getting together to open an office?

I'd say that if you have a dozen or so then you should be able to get going.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I agree, and also a lot of the pukka work is via accounts, which the system will not cater for.

But I wish you well.

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IDFIMH

In St Andrews all the taxis have a phone number, either as an independent or part of a small circuit.

Some of them have made it to a proper office or a part time office, but its difficult to make the leap from a mobile phone and a few radios to an office. The smaller offices here have about 8 cars and the bigger ones up to 15.

Some of the mobile phone firms control up to around 6 cars from one of the cars, which to be honest is a bit of a nightmare and if its busy (not often here) then they tend to cock things up a bit.

Its also dangerous as well and its surprising they get away with it but the govt up here are going to license radio rooms and when that happens the mobile phone brigadge might be out of business.

If I was to start doing phone work seriously I would get enough people together to open an proper office, but it would be hard to start with. but the mobile phone in the car business i wouldnt touch with a barge-pole.