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Posts Tagged ‘technology’

New App Available for Booking Cabs

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Black cabA new app called GetTaxi is available for the Blackberry, iPhone and Android which is set to make booking a cab in London easier than any other web based booking service, allowing full transparency to the user to avoid long waiting times and dodgy cabbies.

Most of us have had bad experiences with taxis, whether it’s a driver asking you for directions, drivers taking the long route around or ordering a cab that doesn’t show up! However, GetTaxi is a handy little app that may also be able to beat the competition. The USP of GetTaxi is that customers are able to watch the real time movement of the cab, the app shows a small image of the taxi approaching your geo-located pick up position on an embedded version of Google Maps, which factors in traffic and delays.

You can choose your driver, get an estimated time on the cab, send information to the driver e.g. if you need wheelchair access and you’ll also get a notification once your cabbie arrives.

GetTaxi CEO, Neal Fullman, said “”It really is a consumer focused experience,

“It’s a simple way of ordering a taxi. You’ve got full transparency over the way the cab is being dispatched, which takes out the whole rubbish experience of hanging on the line at a call centre, not knowing where your cab is and when it’s going to arrive or pull up outside.”

So far, over 1,000 London black cab drivers have signed up for GetTaxi. If you come across a cabbie you like you can add them to your favourites and look for them again when you next need a cab journey!

The drivers get a free, touch screen GPS installed in their vehicles so they can get more passengers at no extra cost and to themselves or their black cab insurance. GetTaxi get the money back for the GPS from a small commission from each fare picked up from the app.

Fullman said, “It’s risk free for drivers, that’s why we’re building the fleet so fast”, said Fullman.

“Previously they would have had to spend between 50 and 60 quid a week with a computer cab or radio taxi partnership, subscribing to the network. We only charge them based on the jobs that we get them.”

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Video Screens on Black Cabs in 2012

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

In time for the London 2012 Games, thousands of London’s black cabs could get video screens fitted on their vehicles which will show adverts and also customised ads depending on where the cab is located.

The innovative screens which will be attached to the roof of the cab, will be tested and trialled next month in November, on top of a mini.

Passengers in the cabs will also be given a free connection to high speed Wi-Fi to use while they travel.

The double sided screen will be able to be constantly updated with its live 3G connection and a GPS chip will allow marketers and advertisers to display ads in certain locations e.g. hotel ads could be shown outside a tube or railway station. Traffic warnings could also be shown if there was an accident nearby.

However, due to the current legislation that forbids the use of full motion videos on the screens, trailers for films or adverts for TV shows will not be shown.

The TfL (Transport for London) is working with Eyetease Media’s CEO, Richard Corbett, to develop the idea. Corbett says, “I spent a lot of time in New York and saw the taxitop advertising there was interesting.

“However, I couldn’t understand why there weren’t digital version. After some research, I decided to have a go at it.”

He carries on saying, “We made a proof of concept last year, using funding from friends. It was very hand to mouth, but we got there, and every penny had to count,

“We took it to Transport for London, and they loved it, so we have refined the final version which we hope will be on over 5,000 cabs by the time the 2012 Games open.”

Eyetease Media will pay cabbies around £2,000 per year to have the screen on their cabs, which is a nice extra bit of cash for the drivers, after the increase cost of having to maintain their cabs, the rise of taxi insurance and the fewer number of customers. The firm is working with two large advertising companies to sell the ads.

“Previously firms would have to buy an ad for a long time. With this, they can buy ads for an hour, a day or even just when cabs are in a certain location,” says Corbett.

Eyetease Media also hopes to sell the system across the globe, including New York.

Director of Taxi and Private Hire at TfL, Jason Mason, said “We have been approached by two organisations regarding the installation of electronic advertising screens that would be fixed to the roof of London cabs. However, no agreement has been made and any proposal of this kind must meet a series of strict criteria before trials or tests take place.
Discussions are ongoing.”

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There’s an App for checking if Cabs are Licensed

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

An application for the iPhone and Android smartphone has been launched in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to allow people to check if a taxi is licensed.

The scheme is called “Am I Safe” and is currently being used in Watford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Luton.

Am I Safe was launched in hope that both the safety of taxi drivers and passengers will be improved says Milton Keynes Council.

Head of environmental health, Chris Londy, said “It’s important that people are aware that the vehicle they are getting into is legal.”

Londy carried onto say “This system can reassure people travelling by taxis or private hire vehicles in Milton Keynes that they are using a licensed vehicle.”

To check if the vehicle is registered, potential passengers can enter the cab’s registration number into their phone and the app will check the local council’s database, to see if the cab is registered as a licensed taxi. If the vehicle is not registered, an alert will be sent to the police and the council.

It’s also easy to track the passenger if needed, as the smartphone app uses a global positioning signal linked the phone to store the location, car registration, the time and the name of the person who the car is registered to.

The app also sends a message to a nominated family or friend member, giving them the location of the taxi and the taxi’s registration number.

The founder of Am I safe, Anthony Price-Thompson, said “We’re trying to ensure that genuine passengers and genuine drivers have an ability to feel safer.”

He said “Over the past 12 months, we have been working very closely with passengers, operators, police forces and councils to understand the challenges they face in ensuring the safety of passengers and drivers of taxis with private hire insurance alike.

“We have built a web application that aims to meet those challenges,” “Taxi drivers are already aware of the risks of the illegal taxi trade on their business, and fully support our efforts to stamp them out,” explained Price-Thompson.

The app will be available across the rest of the UK by the beginning of 2012 but users can download the app from the Milton Keynes Council website now.

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Hail a Black Cab and get an Easy Ride from your Mobile Phone

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

It always happens whether you’re out late at night, you need to get somewhere for a business meeting or just in a rush to get somewhere on time – you just can’t seem to find a black cab to hail down, even though there are around 25,000 of them in London. It’s a problem most Londoners have faced. However, do not fear, a solution may have arrived.

Last week, the LDNtaxi iPhone application was launched by cabbies, which lets you hail a taxi electronically from your mobile phone.

The app automatically calculates your position when you hail a cab and inputs your destination. Drivers are then alerted about the nearby customers and whoever accepts the fare first sees the customer’s picture and their location. The passenger is alerted and the picture makes sure that the driver picks up the right person.

Warren Cresdee, who has been a cab driver for 35 years, said “We wanted to bring black cabs up to date. We think it’s both safer and easier for drivers and passengers, and also helps us get rid of our down time”.

Cresdee continued, “Cabbies have been really impressed with the potential for this, and we hope that thousands will sign up. The reaction so far has been incredible”.

Since the app was launched, three hundred cabbies have already signed up to the service. Each driver has an iPhone in their cab and uploads a picture of themselves, which is shown to customers when they book.

At the moment the iPhone app is free, however Cresdee said the firm may start charging in the future.

Addison Lee, another taxi firm has also recently announced its iPhone app which now makes up more than 10% of all their bookings.

There is stiff competition as the minicab industry has also entered the market, with Kabbee and Cabubble.co.uk, who are both backed up by minicab insurance providers, have also been launched.

The increased interest of this industry and innovation of technology will, hopefully make it easier for passengers to find a cab when they most need one.

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Vodafone team up with London’s Black Cabs to offer free Mobile Charging

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

As part of a £10 million advertising campaign, over 500 black taxis in London have been installed with phone chargers by Vodafone. The campaign is to plug the major improvements that the company has made to its mobile coverage in London.

The Chief Executive of Vodafone UK, Guy Laurence explained that Vodafone had made “hundreds of improvements” to increase its reliability and capacity of its London network. This is great news for the company as in February, Vodafone’s network was broken into at one of its technical facilities which affected customers’ text, data and voices services which crippled the company and its reputation. With the popularity of smartphones (e.g. Blackberrys and iPhones), its London network had also been under strain. However, the chargers in the taxis will be adaptable to charge any type of mobile phone, including hungry smartphones!

Laurence said “We are committed to offering London the best possible network”.

As well as being able to charge their phones, tourists, late night clubbers and busy businessmen will not have to get the cabbie to stop at a cash point to pay for the journey. Vodafone customers will be able to pay for their journeys with their phone by sending a simple text.

The taxis won’t be hard to miss if you want to flag one down as they will be wrapped with a union jack design made up of 2000 London street names. Vodafone plan to have many more black cabs on board with their campaign by the end of August once all of the cabs have full taxi insurance to cover their new design and chargers in the cabs.

As part of the advertising campaign, Vodafone will also be sponsoring a fleet of Heathrow Express trains.

With technology becoming even more advanced, will paying by mobile phones become the norm in the future?

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Paying for Taxi Journeys with Paper and Coins could be a Thing of the Past

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Paying by paper and coins could be a thing of the past as technology becomes more innovative. You might not have to worry about getting a cab driver to find and stop at a cash point again as the electronic payment company and digital media operator VeriFone is tapping into the growing technology of near field technology and targeting London’s black cabs.

VeriFone is offering the system free to London’s licensed black cabs to improve passenger journeys and modernise the payments infrastructures in taxis. The system allows taxi drivers to easily accept credit and debit cards as it integrates with the taxi meters while also streaming digital content and advertising to passengers.

The VeriFone system provides a new, highly targeted channel for advertisers with the ability to deliver real time media. As well as a colour display screen for streaming media, advertisements and safety information, VeriFone’s unique card payment system also comprises of a fixed passenger facing secure PIN entry device and a driver side payment device with a receipt printer. The system has already been rolled out in some black cabs around London as the equipment, installation and maintenance are all free but drivers will still need to make sure that their taxi insurance covers the new technology that will be installed in their cabs.

VeriFone’s vice president & general manager, Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Shaun Burger Explains that “This is a total media and payment solution that enables black cab operators to enhance the customer experience with card payment options and access to a choice of multimedia content during their trips.

“VeriFone can also deliver interactive and dynamic cab-based media campaigns to advertisers looking for targeted, high-value alternatives to traditional venue-based and outdoor media channels.”
VeriFone has already installed their systems all around the world, from South Africa to Istanbul and New York City. In NYC, VeriFone’s taxi payment system is now deployed in 50% of taxis and VeriFone Media Solutions provide content to more than 90%.

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