Taxi Driver Online

Hi there folks

My name is Max Parsons, and I am a software developer
I am currently devloping a taxi despatching software with loads of difference. I wont give to much away right now. but i would like general comments mainly from drivers and taxi owners to what they consider as the best way for job to be despatched to drivers and what features a data head should contain. I strongly believe that before releasing a new product it is very important to listen to what your prospective customers really want rather than locking your self away and developing something and then finding out on release it as so many shortfalls to what customers really want.

so now is the chance for the tai community to air what they would like to see and I will see what I can deliver.

A call back facility that allows the driver to speak directly to the customer.

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IDFIMH

Thank you for your response. We currently have this feature on our data unit which is based on win ce
it allows the driver to press one button and it automatically connects to the customer without showing the customers number.

Just make it plain and simple without the complicated software needed to run it.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

This relies on have sim cards that allow phone calls to any number, many firms might not like that idea at all

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Datamaster don't need a sales team, they have happy customers doing it for them
Nidge for Prime Minister

This is a good point using sim card to directly contact customer from datahead can be expensive unless the sim card offers plenty free minutes. Another option is for the datahead to send a signal back to the despatch unit. and then for dispatcher to make the call to customer.

one of the unique features I have developed is a website where customers can track there taxi on a map so they can see the taxi and exactly where it is. This will solve a lot of problems as the customer no longer needs to ring back to the taxi office and ask the familiar question where is my taxi.

This service is also available on a customers mobile phone too

what do you guys think of this service?

A cheap version that uses an Android phone as the datahead would be good for small 2/3 vehicle firms. Missus could take calls and maybe despatch on home PC? Not sure if technically possible.

yes this is possible to use an android phone and in some ways make sense for smaller operators rather having to invest into expensive dataheads. I currently have a datahead based on windows ce which is cheaper than an android and as a bigger screen. which could do the job

if you are interested let me know.

Perfectly plausible 2 Jobs.

Opencab.org is currently being developed for the Android platform using all open source technologies. I'll be uploading a new tech demo video soon and be setting up a demo system for people to play with. It will be a closed beta demo and I'm looking for people to test, so if anyone is interested in testing the closed beta please PM me.

All you need is a broadband connection, a pc, some way of receiving jobs (sofphone+SIP trunk, bog standard phone, email, fax etc...) and a driver(s) with an Android phone.

There's a company in New York currently installing their own Opencab platform for use with over 200 vehicles. They're also helping develop the platform.

Current main features are:

Vehicle Tracking (Location, Speed)
Journey Playback
Auto-dispatch (Nearest vehicle with parameter for max distance)
Job Bidding
Address auto-complete on booking screen
You can search "pubs in Crookes" for example to display all known pubs in an area.

Feautres in heavy development (ie, will be in the closed beta) are:

Account work tagging
Auto-dispatch by FIFO on plot
Configurable job details displayed to driver

So yeah, I'm looking for people help test the closed beta for free. PM me if you're interested in signing up.

And if you have a developer type person interested in helping the project then again PM me.

Thanks Sox2000. Currently I just drive part time but have some long term plans and this could be just the thing.