THE LATEST TAXI NEWS


Bike Insurance Boat Insurance Car Insurance Caravan Insurance Courier Insurance HGV Insurance Home Insurance Horsebox Insurance Landlord Insurance Lorry Insurance Minibus Insurance Motor Fleet Insurance Motor Trade Insurance Motorhome Insurance Salon Insurance Taxi Insurance Tradesman Insurance Van Insurance
Bank Accounts Car Value Protection Credit Cards Income Protection Loans Mortgage Protection
Courier Insurance Directors & Officers Insurance Employers Liability Insurance HGV Insurance Hotel & Guest House Insurance Landlord Insurance Lorry Insurance Minibus Insurance Motor Fleet Insurance Motor Trade Insurance Office Insurance PI Insurance Pub Insurance Public Liability Insurance Restaurant Insurance Salon Insurance Shop Insurance Takeaway Insurance Taxi Insurance Tradesman Insurance

Posts Tagged ‘black cab’

GetTaxi Smartphone App Revolutionises Black Cab Industry in London

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Over the past few years apps have changed the way people do a variety of things such as manage their bank account, order food and shop. Now black cabs are joining in with the ‘Get Taxi’ app that allows users to order a certified black cab using their mobile phone. The producers of the app aim to change the way people get taxis and reduce waiting times.

Drivers are hired on a job to job basis, which gives customers access to hundreds of taxis within their vicinity. The CEO of Get Taxi, Neal Fullman, explains “Our whole philosophy is to give as much of this away to as many people for free as possible. We give the taxi drivers the unit which is worth £200. We don’t charge any subscription fees, unlike cab companies who charge £50-£60 per week to be on the books. We just charge a pay-as-you-go 10% on all account work and £1 on all cash jobs. No sign up, no contracts”.

The benefit of this pay as you go system is that drivers are free to do Get Taxi jobs at their convenience, and still continue to get business from regular customers who hail them. The CEO claims typical jobs can bring in between £20-£25 whereas Transport for London figures report the average hail for standard black taxis is £7-£13. Regardless of the average earnings of a taxi, all drivers will want to ensure they are covered with quality UK taxi insurance at a good rate.

Customers too can benefit from this advanced taxi service. Get Taxi eliminates the time spent on the phone, on hold to place a taxi order and waiting an unknown amount of time for the taxi. When an order is placed through the app the customer gets information on the driver such as their name, registration, estimated time of arrival and distance from you. It even features a live map so you can track the driver’s movements, similar to the map you see on a flight tracking the aeroplane’s movement towards its destination. Users then have the freedom to pay by cash or card which adds to the service’s great convenience.

GetTaxi is available to download on the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry and is currently live in London.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Taxi Insurance, Taxi News | No Comments »

Phone App to Drive more Passengers to Black Cabs

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

The founders of mobile music service Spotify, and online telephony business Skype have invested in a smartphone app, nicknamed as the Facebook for cabbies, which was created for London’s black cab community.

The new app is called Hailo, which helps black cab drivers of London’s iconic cabs, fight off competition from fleet hire vehicles and minicabs by sharing between themselves critical information, such as traffic trouble spots to avoid and places where passengers are waiting to be picked up.

Other smartphone apps have already been developed and released, for example by private hire vehicles provider, Addison Lee, for hailing taxis and minicabs.

Customers will also be able to hail down black cabs using Hailo on their smartphones. Hailo also has ambitions to be a more flexible alternative to radio cab services, which charge drivers a fixed fee to guide them to jobs. With Hailo, drivers are charged a proportion of each fare it brings their way, but is free to use for both passengers and drivers.

One of Hailo’s six founders, Jay Bregman, said “Drivers don’t have any affinity with these [radio taxi services] because all they do is supply them with orders.

“What we are trying to build is a tactical tool to engage the community and encourage interdependence.”
According to Bregman, so far in since the four months Hailo has been available, about 2,000 drivers, roughly 10% of all London’s cabby community, have downloaded the app. The market leader in the radio cab market in London, Radio Taxis, has about 3,000 black cab subscribers.

£750,000 was raised to fund Hailo in a seed round of funding, led by Wellington Partners, Spotify’s backers, and Atomico Ventures, the early stage investment group set up by the founders of Skype.

According to Bregman, Skype’s co-founder, Niklas Zennstrom, is personally leading Atomico’s involvement, according to Mr Bregman.

The funding will also support Hailo’s expansion plans and discussions have also been held in New York with the Taxi & Limousine Commission about launching in 2012.

With the economic downturn taxi drivers are struggling, as less people are using cabs as a method of transport, the cost of taxi insurance has increased, as well as fuel prices and general costs of running taxis. However, the launch of the app helps to steer more customers to use black cabs and encourage more business.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Taxi Insurance | No Comments »

Rise in the Number of Sheffield Taxis Unsafe for the Road

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

A survey by Sheffield Council revealed that the number of private hire taxis and black cabs that do not meet standards are increasing for the first four months of the year.

1 in 5 taxis were taken off the road because they were suspected to be so unfit for the road. Almost two thirds were not meeting the terms with safety regulations either.

Of the 102 vehicles were tested in April 2011, 21 of them were taken of the road for not being road worthy and 61 of them failed. In January, 84 cabs were tested, 8 were suspended of the 21 that failed.

The vehicles that had problems serious enough to fail an MOT test were all handed suspension notices.

488 vehicles were tested in the four months from January to April and 180 of them failed. 55 vehicles had their taxi licenses suspended for serious faults.

Chairman of Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, Hafeas Rehman, which represents black cab drivers, said that the bar by which minicabs and black cabs are tested for safety is set higher than the MOT test for other vehicles.

He explained that, “The results are slightly misleading in terms of the fact people might think a failure means the vehicle is automatically not roadworthy.

“Suspensions are given to vehicles that would not pass an MOT, whereas a failure to meet a safety test can be for things like warning stickers being peeled off in the passenger area.

“A lot of drivers who buy used taxis now put them through the full mechanical test before they start work, even if their last certificate was still valid.”

Councillors from Sheffield Council agreed a request by taxi drivers to put back the date of their vehicles’ first safety inspections by 1 year.

In the past, all private hire vehicles and black cabs faced mandatory checks at 5 years old, which will now by 6. They must have 2 tests per year from the age of 6 and then they will no longer be licensed past 9 years.

Black cabs were also tested each year up to 8 years old and from then were tested twice a year. Now the black cabs will be tested every year between 6 and 9 years old, followed by twice yearly inspections when they are 15 years old, when they cannot have commercial taxi insurance anymore.

Owners are charged £54 per test for private hire vehicles and £59 per test for black cabs.
Mohammed Yasin, chairman of Sheffield Private Hire Drivers’ Association, made the request and was approved by the council licensing board.

“The five-year rule has been in place for over 20 years while the standard of vehicles has improved beyond recognition for safety, comfort, reliability and environmentally-friendly fuels.

“The tests are about ensuring the safety of the passengers and driver. The change will help cut running costs,” Yasin said.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Taxi Insurance | No Comments »

Black Cab Travels across the World from London to Australia for Charity

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

A black cab has travelled through 39 countries starting from London to Australia for charity.

Most Londoners know how hard it is to get a black cab to travel out of the City of London, but this taxi is doing just that – all the way to Australia.

Three friends from Aston University are travelling 32,000 miles around the world in this black cab that’s covered by taxi insurance to raise money for the Red Cross.

The group of three passengers have embarked on an amazing road trip with their black cab named Hannah and have so far combated a sheep traffic jam in Armenia, avoided the Taliban in Afghanistan and have also had an encounter with the secret police in Iran.

Johno Ellison, 27, Paul Archer and Leigh Purnell, both 23, set off from London on 17th February 2011 and have so far clocked up 17,000 miles since they left.

They are now coming up to the strict Communist state China, where they will probably face difficulties getting on the internet and using their accounts for various blogging and social networking sites.

They have passed through Paris, Finland, Georgia, Italy, Turkey and India since they started their route.

Next they will pass through Thailand, Indonesia and other parts of Australia before they reach their final destination, Sydney which is around 12,000 more miles to go.

Luckily the meter hasn’t been turned on, as once the passengers have reached Sydney, the bill would have been a massive £70,000.

The group hope to raise £20,000 for the Red Cross and are hoping to set a new world record for the longest taxi trip.

One of the passengers, Ellison, said that Hannah, the nickname for their black cab is specially adapted and strong, so they are expecting to reach Sydney in one piece.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Taxi Insurance, Taxi News | No Comments »

Contactless Payment Technology for London’s Black Cabs

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Contactless payments will eventually be rolled out in the City of London, allowing all 25,000 London Black Cab drivers to have the innovative payment solution. Payment solutions provider, Ingenico, has announced the plans in partnership with Visa Europe, to increase and encourage card usage in London’s black cabs. They hope to enhance the consumer experience as the new technology will provide customers with more payment choices.

Business people, tourists, commuters and late night party goers in London will be welcoming the news of the convenient contactless payment system, which could mean cheaper cab fares for them as they may not have to stop off at the nearest cash point anymore.

Because of the increased cost of taxi insurance and the general running of vehicles, cab drivers may welcome this new technology even more, as they will be able to generate additional revenue. Ingenico’s solution also allows for the delivery of additional value added services for consumers such as mobile phone top up.

For those people whose card provider has not yet enabled the facility for contactless card payments, they will still be able to pay by chip & pin or using the card’s magstripe.

Cillian Wright, Head of Global Partnerships in Ingenico, said “The consumer experience of contactless payments in London will be enhanced, as providing this technology for Visa Europe’s initiative has allowed Ingenico to deliver a leading taxi payment solution”.

The technology for taxis is growing and becoming more innovative. Recently, VeriFone has revealed its plans to roll out its near field communication strategies for payments to some taxis. Vodafone has also recently announced that they will be allowing their customers to pay for taxi journeys by text message.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Taxi Insurance | No Comments »