Taxi Driver Online

Andy 7

I know you are bright enough to realise but I think we should just make this patently clear to all.

As Auriga literally give away the initial software for booking/despatch (some might dispute this but c'est la vie) and make their real profit from selling the kit (radio, gps node and most of all the data unit and various leads)

Cordic clearly have another angle. Like Auriga they will be keen to hook you into the booking/despatch at literally cost price. Now they are different because they aren't going to make profits from selling add-on hardware. I believe their business plan revolves totally around profits made from selling you airtime on the data services set up by O2 (?).

They will clearly have a great deal arranged to sell data bandwidth, a system that can be very cheaply provided by the mobile phone companies. The plan will be based on establishing ongoing contracts for 1,000's of units. A very good plan it is too, giving them a rock solid ongoing cashflow for each unit sold rather than the once off payment. With you hooked into their agreements you will find them getting control over long term contracts.

I am sure that the phone companies will be prepared to give them the units FOC, so charging you £100+ will be instant profit.

Now I am a businessman first and taxi proprietor second so I have no qualms about their wish to make a profit, that is what we are all about.

I just shake my head a little when they launch their attacks on PMR, telling us how antiquated and dead it is. How many Taxi/PH companies really need to have national communication coverage? Once a guy is out of range we are all generally happy to rely on voice contact by mobile.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

None, and long may that last.

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IDFIMH

Just here to correct a few myths: Tom, I wish the above were the case. If it were we would be encouraging users to use the web browser and email client on an XDA just so they wasted valuable bandwidth on err...recreational activities...and I would have retired by now . The fact that I am cranking this out at 11pm of a week night shows otherwise. We deliberately make it very difficult, for drivers to access these "goodies" so that the running costs are kept to a minimum. For the record, the airtime bill is between the taxi firm and the network provider, not us. We don't see a cent of it. We have far better things to do than chase errant owners for unpaid direct debits.


As detailed above, not true - we did think about doing the air-time re-sale model when we were putting the business plan together and decided it would be just way too painful and distracting to have to go around chasing people who hadn't paid their bills. We actually had one owner who screamed blue murder at us because the drivers couldn't cover booked jobs. Turns out he hadn't paid his broadband bill for 2 months. BT had had enough and pulled the plug on him.

Our "plan" is to get as many fleets as possible to use our solution and charge a reasonable amount for doing so - (pound for pound I think we are more than reasonable). The fact that we have chosen to despatch job information via the Internet and GPRS is a USP. Even if we chose to despatch via PMR, it would still be head and shoulders above anything in the market.


I don't think I have launched an "attack" on PMR, or said it is antiquated or dead...that has been other posters. I do think some of our competitors products are poorly conceived and executed, but then they sell at a certain cost point. What I have been trying to do is correct a lot of misconceptions people have about our platform. If that comes across as PMR bashing then ce la vie. I have been very deliberate about saying that it ultimately comes down to horses for courses. You may be happy to rely on a cell phone call once a driver is out of range. However, from the sheer number of enquiries we get, I know there are a lot of owners not so happy.

Right, rant over. Night all

For the record that was me - doh

Rob,
you are obviously out of step with the trade on this, go on admit it you aint thought of the possibilities, you may even get a kick back on credit card transactions from the cabs.

systems are nearly all in nowand the next couple of years will see minows swallowed up.

so start this christmas what a time give it away and live off the airtime earnings and card commission.

and if anyone complains Tom asked for it!

Good Idea Wharfie.

I think my Biggest problem Tom, is I cannot buy the stuff.

In my Cab, people know what the prices are. I don't alter them for each customer, so I don't have a problem advertising them.

And, when the people get out and pay me, I don't have a "service agreement" that they have to go on paying for the rest of their lives.

Everyone wants ongoing payments for this that and the other.

Maybe its a mental block I have. But, if I dont know the price, then I aint interested in buying.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Getting a bit fussy, aren't we?

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IDFIMH

Well that should give you some good insight into why I'm not going to give pricing here. We do alter them on a per customer basis because not everyone wants/can afford/needs everything that we offer. And I may be going out on a limb here, but when I do a comparison of something I at least try and get similar products together. How you can compare an ad-hoc passenger service with an automated data despatch system is beyond me. If you are suggesting that we are being duplicitous or underhand, all you've got to do is pick up the phone.


I'd just like to explore this a little. If you had a customer who wanted you and your cab 24x7x365 would you say that what you charged didn't include vehicle maintenance, fuel costs, depreciation, licensing etc etc. In your example, "your" service agreement lasts for as long as the trip. Again apples for apples.

FYI, our service agreement is purely optional. If you don't want it or feel you don't need it then be my guest.

Rob Mc

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I might be here but my soul's gone golfing

Rob,
that was a naughty reply to Andy,

I bought system and kit from someone for £7,000 Of course I did not need the service aggreement, who the hell wants to pay every month when so much has paid up front?

I did though sign the form, good job I did, the bugger had an expiry date!

didnt know about that but the updates have kept us in there.

wonder though, what would have happened if the company had ceased buisness?

up [edited by admin] creek.

Diplomat, Auriga, Datamaster, TaxiMate, etc etc etc. Have a price list.

So much for this option, so much for that option. Its all public. Diplomat's is on their web site too. You can find out a lot without the hard sell technique.

Thats all I want to do.

Prices given on a telephone mean nothing to me. One company from Manchester area gave me a price on the phone, another on a visit, another when they visited us, and a totally different one when they had to quote in writing. All the time, we had only been after the same thing.

Rob, this isnt a personal attack on Cordic. Far from it, I am in fact verry interested in your system. This is general:

1. We already have loads of very young hardware. All Hewlett Packard. All compatible. When we bought it, we paid the price it said on the label. And, it came with warranty. The warranty was included in the price.

2. We have op system software. When we bought it, it included service updates and the like in the price.

3. We bought SageLine50 accounts software. Again, we paid a flat figure without add ons. If it had not worked, I would expect them to repair/replace under warranty.

With all this gear, if we had messed it up ourselves, then I would have expected to pay them more for repairing it.

When we buy our PMR gear, we pay cash, and its ours. We dont have to keep paying for it for ever. When it breaks, we buy some new stuff.

We dont have to pay any of these companies extra money just to keep it working. It just does.

Now, all I want to do, is buy some software. I don't want to have to buy new hardware of an inferior quality to what we already possess, yet everyone wants to sell it to me.

Funny enough, I don't think I am thick. But salesmen who suggest it or tell me I am, aint exactly gonna win my confidence. Be honest, say "The hardware you already have is far superior to the Dell gear we want to sell you, but if we dont sell you the hardware too, we dont earn enough out of it" I can accept that.

Right, I also know, that because of the reduced market size, we aint gonna get a taxi package for the price of a Microsft package. So, I do have a higher figure set aside for purchase of taxi software.

I have a five year cycle for this stuff, and I base this on experience. I think that at the end of 5 years I am gonna have to buy it all again.

I would prefer, if possible, not to have to learn a new system every five years if I could avoid it.

Whatever system I go for, I have to sell it to the drivers and controllers (our set up is a bit of a co-operative/association), and as such, I cant afford big mistakes. Reliability is therefore the key factor. Are we prepared to pay for this reliability? Yes, of course we are. A system that stays up, is worth ten times a system that keeps collapsing.

So, how do I set about this?

Well, I must phase it into operation. So, I have to be able to buy it in bits, as we are ready for it. But, I need to know our eventual target, so that whatever we buy is compatible with each other and our aspirations for it.

First, I need the booking and despatch software. No point on having this on just one PC, so I need a two user set-up. However, I also want to be able to monitor it and handle the accounts from the back office. so really, I need at least a three user system.

Next, as I am not going to put GPS and data on immediately, I need to be able to use it in manual mode, perhaps gradually adding cars on auto as and when practicle.

Next. I want to run taxibuses on it. So, I need some form of intelligent routing when we add the GPS.

I also want to know it will fit in with our system of accounting, and 101 other things.

So, how exactly do I find out all these things before I buy it?

Lovely glossy brochures that tell you how clever the company is, dont sell this stuff to me. I need data and prices.

Can you see how difficult it is to be a buyer? Try looking at my position from an angle other than the seller, and you will probably win my confidence, and that of many others too.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Andy - you are a better man than me if you can get publicly disclosed pricing to stick when it comes to actually doing a deal. If I said you could have our system for £x amount per vehicle would that make you more inclined to buy it because you saw a price here? Then when you rang I said "ah yes but for that you've got to buy 1000 off".



You say the goal posts hadn't moved between intial contact and what was eventually quoted. I'm guessing that it was a lot more than what was given verbally and published on their web site? Well doesn't that show the folly of doing this? My intent is to supply a system on a contractual basis at an agreed price that does not contain any hidden extras. To do that we have to be having a good and honest dialogue and I have to know that a) you are serious about buying a data despatch system and b) you are not the competiton.

Now, I'm sure when you do eventually find out what we charge, your immediate thought won't be "wow - it must be a really good system for that kind of money... where do I sign?" it will probably be "what...he's having a laugh" My job is to narrow the gap between these two extremes so that you can see and understand why we justify what we charge. No hard sell, no mind games, no arm twisting or time limited discounting. Just what we think our product is worth. I wish I could wheel you in front of my existing customers - they would not only convince you of the price justification but knowing what they now know about Cordic, they would pay double.

Rob Mc

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I might be here but my soul's gone golfing

OK Rob. So I AM stupid. Sure, I didnt know what they priced. You know best. I dont know what I know. End of story. And I now very much doubt I will "eventually find out what we [you] charge" if you get my drift. You are not giving out information Rob, you are giving out argument.

Jesus H Christ! Do you really think I will think this? "wow - it must be a really good system for that kind of money... where do I sign?" it will probably be "what...he's having a laugh" Do you REALLY think I have no idea of what the likely costs are? God, you must think I am stupid, and I apologise for having given you that impression.

I am sure you will have plenty of other customers without us.

Best wishes
Andy7

PS. I dont work for the competition, as many on here know.

PPS. I dont want to buy a data system. I really want a GPS system, as I want to skip the data technology. What I really want, is a cross breed between Diplomat's Navigator and Flex. And, we want to buy it (we wont rent). Am I living in a dream world here? Will I ever find out? Or should I just give up trying?

(Andy has memories of NC Steve). Yawn.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Andy, apologies if what I have written has rubbed you up the wrong way. That is not my intention. One of my weaknesses is that when I see and hear so many incorrect assumptions about how our solution works, what we should be charging and how we should charge, I get a little (!) defensive.

Regards

Rob Mc

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I might be here but my soul's gone golfing

I will try and leave this subject with just one more post.

Such an extensive reply makes me wonder what you haven't denied.

We will talk inthe new year.