Taxi Driver Online

Hi all,

I am currently developing some Taxi Dispatch software based on entirely open source projects. As a result when this is finished the software will be open sourced and available for free.

The system will be web based and run on modern web standard software such as MySQL, Apache and Asterisk. So will be easily customisable by others with some knowledge of web standards.

The system will use an 'open source' smartphone, software for this can also be quite easily customised.

I would like to know what features are important to you as drivers/operators.

The project is in its early stages so will not be available for some time. Once the software has reached a critical stage for testing I will setup a website to download early versions and perhaps ask for some donations to buy hardware (although I realise I may have to fork out for this myself). I do plan on making some cash out of this project, although the software will be readily available I may sell support/reference manuals and of course the hardware for the system.

So if you would kindly give your thoughts on such a system and let me know which features are important for drivers/operators I would be grateful.

Regards.
SoX

Don't go via the web route mate it can cause a plethora of issues. You've only got to ask some lads on here who are using web based dispatched software.

If your going down the auto route I'd stick to normal Data dispatch. We are running on a web based dispatch system and it's a sack of n@ckers.

I take it you're talking about external web based systems where you use them through an internet connection.

Its not using the internet. It will run a web server locally, so there's no internet involved but its made on web based system. Think of it like a company's intranet where people can read the company news, it's accessible inside the company but not outside because its purely internal, there's no issues with broadband connections going down or with too much traffic by too many clients using the system etc..

If you're talking about problems with a local web based system then what problems have been encountered?

The server will be hosted at the taxi company's office and only be accessible via the internal network.

The problems are, internet connection going down, bookings sitting there 5-10 minutes before being dispatched. There's an old saying that if it's not broke don't try and fix it.

I don’t really like to pour cold water on your plans but in my twenty odd years of experience in this field, I’ve seen so many attempt to do what your proposing and sadly, the likelihood of your plan succeeding is extremely low. This has nothing to do with your skills as a programmer or the choice of methodology. Let me give you a classic example.

A large and very successful taxi company once decided that they would fund a project to develop the ultimate taxi dispatch program. Their thinking was that once done, they wouldn’t then need to pay their current software provider’s support charges and would also be able to sell on the product to other companies. The software actually took much longer than planned to develop, despite the fact that the software engineers were some of the best I’ve come across. The disruption of testing on a live site caused major upset and loss of confidence in the company with the result that drivers were leaving and the company’s name was tarnished.

Cutting a long story short, the company ended up paying nearly £80,000 to have the code developed to their exact needs but were unable to sell a single copy to other companies despite an expensive marketing campaign.

Now why would that be?

I was wondering when you'd pop up Bill, you da man.

Since there's no internet connection involved then this doesn't become an issue. Bookings sitting there waiting to be dispatched then thats down to the software and I'm guessing stress on the hosted system thats being used by multiple companies. Since each office would have its own servers then problem is resolved.

To respond to Bill's comments:

Most of the code for the system is already out there, open sourced, in production and doing a stellar job for enterprise businesses. It just all needs tying together for a dispatch system. The company you mention (I'm guessing here) maybe started developing from scratch, which will take a long time. I also reckon this company did not open source their code so the community could customise it and/or fix bugs. Another advantage to open sourcing the software is that anyone across the world can download it and test it separately. So no development costs apart from hardware, testing is free.

Nearly every piece of proprietary software has an open source alternative, and these are doing well. For example, for telephony systems theres Asterisk, for predictive diallers theres ViciDial. For CRM theres Vtiger and SugarCRM. For TV DVRs theres MythTV. The Taxi dispatch community is missing an open sourced alternative. I'm hoping that when I've open sourced most of the code then like minded 'open source' programmers will contribute to the project.

Regards,
Sox

Think you didn’t quite grasp what I was getting at.

In my example, the company eventually conceded that nobody was taking their product, not for any technical reason but simply because it lacked the backing of an established company with a proven track record. A rock climber would never entrust his life to a new or unknown equipment supplier and neither would many taxi companies.

The idea of gluing together various bits of software to make up a taxi package however good, would I suspect only appeal to a limited number of techno anoraks or those looking for something for nothing i.e. those at the bottom end of the market.

Bill

I take note of your warnings, thanks Bill. I will point out though, every piece of open source software out there started off at nothing, and they built a following and eventually proved themselves.

When a programming community come together to create something free, productive and cutting edge and customisable by the user, its a wonderful thing. Wouldn't you agree?

Open source all starts with the 'techno anorak' and those looking for something for nothing who test and help develop the system. A case in point: ViciDial which is now found in call centers all over the world..

Can I try it please.

_________________
Grandad,

Grandad

Hey, if you were really at the bottom of the market, you’d know that the word PLEASE doesn’t exist!

And you wouldn’t be asking if you could try it, you’d be asking me to drive the length of the country to demonstrate it for you.

And even though we don’t charge for our software, you’ll still ask for a discount and if I’ll knock the VAT off as well!

And when I tell you it won’t run on your 15 year old machine you’d ask why?


Sox

Yes fully understand the open source methodology and indeed many such api’s and modules are already embedded into our systems. But take something like Asterisk for example, it gives a lot of excellent features at very low costs, but needs someone capable of setting it up and maintaining it. We have a couple of companies on Asterisk it but would normally recommend companies go for a drop in solution from a local telephony provider who can offer good after sales support.

Bill

Damn, you got me.

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Grandad,

www.opencab.org if anyone is interested.

Looking to reach Version 0.1 Miletsone 1 by Spring 2011.