Taxi Driver Online

My company is looking at an Autocab Windows-based system to replace an ancient DOS(?) based system which is now crashing on a regular basis.

Posts on this forum from 2003 ring some alarm bells regarding price hikes at installation and after-sales back-up.

Has anyone out there any experiences to report that would be relevant to the late 2005 market?

Has anyone left a previous supplier to go to Autocab? Was the changeover 'greased' by a part-exchange incentive?

Are there companies using the Autocab system who are not promoted by Autocab as their 'come and look at us' unpaid sales force (South of M4)?

It would be appreciated if replies would 'stick to the point.'

Thank you in advance to anyone prepared to provide sensible help. I will respond accordingly if my area of expertise arises.

Cheers for the help,

Cabbyman.

Never heard of a secret user South of the M4.

Expect you have been taken to Dusty's place, though I hear he is no longer there himself.

When I saw Autocab they were talking about a Linux system, did that ever take off?

Have a gander at Cordic. I think you might like what you see.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I think you must be confusing me with someone else Tom

Hey the Bin Man returns.

So it wasn't you on the X Factor then.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

im an autocab user in the north east ...have auto cab closed down or what u never ee them

Vocal supporters of Autocab have always been very few and far between.

Auriga have always had companies prepared to speak up for the system and willing to demonstrate it.

Autocab, zilch. In fact I once tried to see it at a company in Telford who told me if I knew the Auriga system I wouldn't be impressed with Autocab.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I was invited to see Autocab at a big company near us in Basildon. By the time I spoke to the people there, they had ripped out autocab and bought Auriga. Maybe it was just bad timing.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

it seems auriga must be a far superior system than autocab is this correct and is autocab the next best thing to auriga or are there better cheaper systems on the market

Have a look through some of the older posts wessy. There has been quite a lot of discussion on the subject.

Opinion: Auriga is probably the market leader for the big operators, but if operating say, less than 25 cars, there are more economic and flexible systems on the market worth looking at.

Eg: Cordic, Coded Data, Diplomat, Mercury, Datamaster, Mobisoft, and so on. Mobisoft are trying to push into the taxi market at the moment, and are offering far keener prices than they were a year ago.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Mobisoft. Far keener, but still a dated system.

Try and look at Cordic Wessy. It certainly works for me.

The Auriga price is value for money.

I have a theory that they attract the type of businessman prepared to invest in his/her company.

Other systems over the last 15 years have tended to attract the type who are looking for something cheap rather than the best answer.

Anyway it it a whole new world out there now with all the major players launching new systems in the last 18 months.

Choose how much you are prepared to spend then go shopping for what you can buy.

Just avoid Mercury from my experience and Jason's mob, forget their name.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Tom,

When you say that Mobi is a dated system, what aspects of it are behind the times in your view?

Andy.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Andy

It was clearly the first windows based system.Not being a techie I can't get into technical terms. I did have a long chat with some peole who had been using it in Newcastle for a dial a ride service. They told me they had found it inflexible and limited for what they want.

Can only repeat what I hear.

In New Year we must meet and I will run through my experiences.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

We switched over from Auriga to Autocab last year and from a drivers point of view the old Auriga system was much better.In fact I would switch firms if a rival was to install Auriga.

We switched from Auriga to Autocab earlier this year.
Its difficult to give a fair comparison as we (like many others) not only changed suppliers but also "upgraded" the technology in the process. We went from Sirius full data but non GPS with Auriga to full data with GPS with Autocab in a 120+ fleet. Although the decision was not mine , price was the strongest (and possibly only) factor.
To give an accurate comparison you would have to look at an equivalent product from the competitors (which in Aurga's case would be Evocab I guess).
However , from experience , the actuall installation and training from Auriga was far better planned and executed than that of Autocab who actually arrived , installed and went live in 48hrs towards the end of the week. When queried the head engineer said he prefered "dropping people in at the deep end" - exact words - as they learned better. Considering each staff member had had 10-15 mins only of training this was not clever and not professional. Luckily we had a member of staff who had used the system with a rival and she trained everyone else!
Having said that, Autocab's technical support via the phone has proved very knowledgeable and helpful thus far.
My only advice to you is to see as many systems working as you can - irrespecvtive of how far you have to travel. Not just the top "recommended" firms that the suppliers direct you to but those that you can find yourself that are wiling to show you around. Also make sure you are comparing like for like between suppliers.
And, especially if you are not experienced in this field , make sure you know exactly what the installation timetable / training given is to be.