Taxi Driver Online

Well you are a man of contrasts Andy.

Managed to sign up to the wrong woman four times yet can't decide on a computer system.

Tell you what, next time you decide to get married tell yourself 'I can afford Auriga instead'.

Thanks for that little Gem, Tom.

Being single at the moment, I CAN afford Auriga. I could use the "shoes Jewelery and dress" money that I am obviously saving.

Problem is, I do not own the Company. I need to convince others that what I suggest is the best. My problem therefore, is how to convince others over something I am not even sure about myself!

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

That is just un-believable !!!!!

What an indictment of the data dispatch trade, we have available to us.

I know it will be ages before it happens, but I just can't wait till the time we get all our work via our mobiles, or the IPACs of this world.

Perhaps we should label the data firms that you entertained, the LTI of the 21st century.

And look how much poo they are in.

I know from personal experience, a number of firms up and down the country, who have bought one system, then changed it later for Auriga. I know loads of Auriga operators who are happy to show me their gear in operation.

At the end of the day that is the crucial quote in all this discussion.

I have never had anyone invite me to see a system that they run apart from Auriga users.

Why is that?

Are they not proud and strongly in favour of the system they chose?

Or are they not proud of their own company? Maybe that is an indication of who choses what. I talked a great deal to the sales person sent to the UK by an overseas software supplier. They certainly were of the opinion that you could pre-judge the 'quality' of the operation by the software supplier it used.

The summary this sales person gave after a year in the UK was that if asked to list the 50 top Taxi/Private Hire companies in the UK at least 40 of them have brought Auriga.

The 'Top 50' isn't a reflection on number of cars, but doing the job properly, training, reliability, re-investing and forward thinking.

Go on you are a salesman for Auriga!

never laughed as much in mi life!! to buy Auriga you have to be big they wont sell to the little efficient companies!!

so you have come on here for a cheap advert?

just like that little fellow from Wigan who wants to sell a book he has not written about a subject he knows nothing about and the language!!

shows his breeding.

Wharfie

Sorry Wharfie that was me.

You could say that I am an Auriga salesman because I have demonstrated the system to at least 20 other companies. Half of which have brought it. I actually saw two of the others at Donny who both said ' I wish we'd brought Auriga, the system we brought is crap'.

Any way lets find out about you, how often do you get out of your office and spend a day visiting another taxi company?

Two points:

There isn't a decent system out there, because there isn't a single data system Company which properly understands the taxi industry, or if there is, their system is no good in the first place!

You won't find many people who say Auriga is a load of crap because they have spent so much on a system. If you spend twice as much on something as it is actually worth, you're gonna look a little bit stupid if you turn round and say well actually its a pile of p**s and I wish I hadn't bought it. Especially if it was so expensive that you now cannot afford to buy another system!

Note that I'm not saying that Auriga IS a pile of p**s, just that it is not so good as some people make out. As for nobody ever getting rid of it, I know of several companies who have taken Auriga out, and interestingly enough, they have made a substantial loss for the last two years.

Regards,

Dave.

My personal experience of autocab is that they spend loads on their sales force to the detriment of other areas. Go to the taxi show, or phone them up and everything looks wonderful.

However, once you sign on the dotted line, things seem to go pear shaped. Prices fluctuate (usually upwards), verbal promises are forgotten, and the once guranteed voice on the end of the phone mysteriously becomes unavailable - especially if you want to speak to the MD!

As for the system itself, it is fairly primitive compared to others.

It goes to show that if you spend enough promoting a system, it matters very little how good the actual product is!

They also seem to operate on the basis of quoting an extremely high price, until they hear that you have had a quote from a competitior at which point, they drop their price to an unbelieveably low level. It appears that the less prudent buyers are subsidising the ones who might have been tempted by Auriga, were it not for the fanatastic deal offered by Autocab.

This is not to say that there aren;t sites out there using Autocab happily.

Caveat Emptor as they say.

Dave.

WELL, i AM NEVER IN THE OFFICE! iI do spend a lot of my time in the taxi though, and ok ots time to stand and be counted , I have been in a taxifirm that my family owned, And two private hire firms I have done work for, I regularly visit my rivals though not to snoop, more to discus issues. beyond that I never visit taxi or private hire firms, when I was the licensing chairman I went out with enforcers a lot but again visits were not to snoop.

I talk to drivers a lot when I meet them out.

I have visited ambulance, council control rooms, bus control rooms, parcel delivery control rooms, air trafic control have had a visit too, because I am looking for completley new ideas.

anyway Tom why the Auriga sales blurb when you said yo were looking at Autocab? were you flushing out? thought you had gone off your head, but it makes sense now, you were fishing!

Wharfie

Dave,
without making too much of your first para, the people behind mIDAS ACTUALLY OWNED A FIRM IN mANSFIELD.

The programmers of them all speak to company owners, some to drivers, but all to often neither connect.

Wharfie

Oh you are bad at maths Wharfie. 2+2 does not equal 12.

I get seriously peeed off when folks criticise a system that they have hardly any experience of. Especially when it is one that has helped me revolutionise my business over the last ten.

Auriga from my experience is adaptable, if you make clear what you want it to do. Reliable and solid.

Everyone keeps telling me it is expensive. But then this is the industry that has an appalling level of re-investment from within.

The dominant service providers to our industry have all been around a good few years. As I have previously said I am waiting for the next generation of dispatching systems, which will only revolutionise things with improved communications. Autocab, Auriga and several others are all launching new systems and I am keen to see if there is any innovation that would justify me considering a change.

The Linux system from Autocab will be worth a look at.

You should get out more. I try to get out at least once every quarter. I spend a day away from my company and go and visit a different operator, I am happy to travel some distance to do it.

I recently visited a company to see how their meter system worked, by the end of the visit I had three new ideas for my business. I believe the guy I visited also benefitted.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Tom,
I think you have misread or misunderstood my mails on Auriga, I have not criticised the system, indeed it is possible that I would have had one, who knows I did not even have the option.

As for getting out more, that is impossible I am never in! but I guess you mean I ought to take a step back and look at the service more and you are right.

Exactly how I achieve this at the moment is something I need your advice on!

this year my 4 weeks foreign holiday has been sacrificed to the buisness expansion and cannot remember when I had a meal that wasnt cooked by mcdonalds.

during my foreign visits I love to see how they do the job its a joy to behold, indeed Mick could do with a couple of weeks in playa de Las Americas, the penny might finaly drop!

dare I be cheeky and ask if we can have an exchange visit? promise I will never refer to it on here.

Wharfie

I almost knew that first post on Auriga was your's Tom. lol.

But it is true, that Auriga users have offered to show us their sites without any involvement from Auriga themselves. And each of these also worked another system previously. That in itself, is quite a reference.

It seems also, from what has been said, that Auriga is the most "robust" and, for a firm of our size, also the most expensive.

I have also been told, that the support is not worth the money paid on it, as it has gone bad recently. But, in a way, if the support isnt worth the money, perhaps thats because is isnt so needed as with some systems?

At the moment, I'd love DataMaster but without the crashing problems, will probably have to buy Diplomat, but really want an all singing all dancing GPS-plotting Auriga.

Methinks whatever we do, I shall be dissapointed.

NEXT POINT:

Geoff,

What systems do Bus Companies use?

Is there a system that is good for both Buses and Taxis?

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

The big boys first and stagecoach have thier own, we are in the process of developing excl/midas for taxibus.

the massive firms in london have developed thier own too.

I know you love Diplomat Andy, all I can advise is caution! Diplomat are excellent markiteers and we bought our first kit through diplomat, but I have known those who bought kit and lost thier money, thats what led to a company of thiers going under.

Consequently I have seen the tears of a failed system, though I do not have first hand experience of it.

Autocab and Auriga would not trade with me because I was too small, though they are interested in a new national experiment backed by government, well I am not interested in them now.

as I said to tom, I will never see you stuck, and help in emergency but I f I do you will be stuck with a system you may not want.

I understand that most applications can be developed for buses quickly at our level.

Wharfie

quote:

just like that little fellow from Wigan who wants to sell a book he has not written about a subject he knows nothing about and the language!!

unquote:

i hope you werent directing that at me geoff! you aint that far away you know besides you obviously wrote the book, hell you probably spent years misinterpreting it, to the drivers of your borough as an LO, they probably thought you was bonkers as well.