CONSUMER
Irish taxis to get wired for GPS
06-08-2003
by
Irish taxis look set to install global positioning systems in their vehicles, displaying taxi, passenger and destination information on an interactive map.
The GPS systems are likely to be installed in 2004, in response to a report to be released next month by Ireland's National Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU).
GPS devices receive signals from satellites that allow drivers to know their exact location at any given point in time. The GPS devices are used in combination with interactive maps to show drivers their desired destinations.
The GPS system will be implemented and run by a company that is to be owned by the union's members. The NTDU says that its involvement in the GPS project will end once the report has been delivered and the members have decided on a course of action.
"The Minister for Transportation is happy with the idea that at last we will only have one or two taxi companies providing a co-ordinated service, rather than having fourteen companies, each of which is trying to provide a service on their own," said Tommy Gorman, president of the NDTU speaking to ElectricNews.net. "Our aim is to have one phone number for around 6,000 taxis."
The system will be similar to that currently in operation in London, where people who need a taxi can call a single number and are guaranteed that a taxi will collect them within seven minutes.
The GPS system would also help to improve the safety of taxi drivers, who are sometimes the victims of attacks by their passengers. The GPS system would allow the taxi driver's dispatch office to pinpoint the location of any taxi-driver who activates a distress signal in response to a threat from a passenger.
The GPS system would also help taxi drivers to locate their passengers.
"A taxi driver in Stephen's Green who is asked to pick up a customer in Cabra will be shown a map of the exact location of the customer," said Gorman. "The map will also display the passenger's destination."
The installation of GPS in taxis may also be of interest to advertisers, who have used similar systems in other markets to put targeted advertising into cabs. A system in operation in New York since the end of 2001 allows advertisers to vary the ad or message displayed on a taxi, according to a pre-defined location and schedule.
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