Is There a Future?
In last month's Call Sign, one of our members commented on a remark I had made in a previous article when suggesting that supplying limo's owned by DaC and driven by licensed taxi drivers, was, in my opinion, a non starter and instead we should link up with a reputable private hire company. And the member responded by asking who would be the first to clasp this poisoned chalice?
   My immediate thought to this comment was why must it be a poison chalice? Why must any suggestion that breaks with tradition, particularly one that dates back over 300 years (or in DaC's case nearly 50 years) be jumped upon as poison? How much longer is the cab trade going to be stuck in a time warp? What is it about a body of men who have undertaken one of the most unique and arduous tests imaginable ie the knowledge, yet who are content to sit and do nothing to protect that skill, their investment or worse still, fail to use their initiative in securing a future from a position of strength?
   I have been associated with the cab trade for quite a number of years; in fact I did the knowledge when the PCO was in Lambeth and in all those years, I don't think there has been one solitary enterprising project to raise the profile of the cab trade in London. The Taxi Driver of the Year Show could have been the perfect platform to promote the cab industry, if only those that run it were not so deliberately blind to its true potential.
   I cannot think of one other commercial organisation apart from the cab trade, which expects its future to be guaranteed without the need for one ounce of individual effort, promotional activity, regeneration or modernisation of its service. Even monopolies such gas, telephone or oil companies etc have had to change with the times and spend millions on promoting their services.
   When will it finally sink in that minicabs are not going to go away! When will those whose heads are firmly buried in the sand, realise that the monster the licensed taxi trade was responsible for rearing all those years ago, and who now outnumber black cabs by nearly three to one, is not only here to stay but unless we collectively adopt a change of attitude and make some attempt to drag the trade, or at least our society into the 21st century, then they will end up leaving us to pick up the scraps...
   If it was a case of attempting change for change sake, I could understand the lack of enthusiasm. But this is not so. Very soon I can see it being a case of changing for survival. The problem is, if we wait until we are forced to change, will it be too late, will we have missed the boat and will we be forever playing catch up - because it takes a lot of time, money, effort and ability to develop and implement something new. And if and when we finally make the changes, what will our chances be of reclaiming the clients that we've lost...?

Ground Transportation
Several weeks ago, Brian and I were invited to a meeting with one of ComCab's largest clients. Also invited were ComCab, DataCab, RTL, Brunel Carriage, Burgundy and Tri-Star Cars. The object of the meeting was for the gathered throng to hear what the client had to say about 'Ground 

Transportation' and their determination to obtain at least the first stage of a 'One Stop Shop' - namely Taxis and Cars. They explained in detail what they would be judging the taxi company on when the account goes out to tender. They also mentioned that they were looking to make a saving on total ground transportation costs of approx US$1.5 million.
   A short while after that meeting, Brian and I received a call from one of our largest clients requesting a meeting to hear our views on the same topic and also, I might add, to be told that the whole of their company personnel have been given a directive to cut back their usage of account cabs. They have been told that if possible, they should use cash cabs off the street or private hire.
We are aware that these sort of directives are not new and that every so often the financial directors take a closer look at what's being spent on services and they immediately jump on cabs as being the area to make savings. However, the difference now is there appears to be a consensus of opinion amongst all the big users of taxis and cars that bigger savings can be made by operating with just one company supplying all types of services.
   If it is the choice of that subscriber in question - and no doubt others - to ignore what our clients are asking because without rhyme or reason they consider it to be a poisoned chalice, then what is the alternative? As yet, I have heard nothing constructive from any section of the cab trade other than a self-centred determination to keep the status quo. Burning down the Carriage Office, stop the issuing of more badges, exterminate all minicabs, pick and choose the work and to hell with the public! But that is not the answer and fortunately it is only the opinion of the radical few. Unfortunately, though, it is that few who shout the loudest. It is now time for the silent majority, those who still hope to have a considerable future within the cab trade, to come forward with positive alternatives.
   Giving our clients the ability to acquire multiple forms of transport from one source should not be seen as a poisoned chalice, but as opportunism. With our track record, size and length of time that we have been servicing the corporate and private sector with cabs, we should grasp the opportunity to show that we have the resources, technology and professional ability to not only drive such a project forward, but to do so on our terms.

Leaders in Technology
I don't think many of you fully realise, or at least appreciate, how technologically advanced Dial-a-Cab is over our rivals. It was over three years ago when I proposed to the Board that I be allowed to research the development of a real-time taxi booking system via the Internet. Nowhere in Europe or the USA did such a system exist and it still doesn't to this day. In the first 9 months I drew a complete blank. I approached dozens of IT firms, individual computer boffins, even relatives of drivers on our circuit 

who were experts in their respective fields, but still without success. But eventually I struck lucky and the project finally got underway and 18 months later, DaC became the world's first taxi company to have a genuine on-line real-time booking system  which links directly to your MDT's. And surprisingly after all this time, it is only now that we are finally in a position to offer this service, en masse, to our clients.
   I mention this simply to underline how long it takes to develop and exploit new types of services and why we must be forever thinking ahead. Whilst on the subject, running parallel to the real-time booking system I have also been involved in another unique project. This is a Portal on our new Website which will give our clients the ability to extract Invoice, Billing and Management information via the Internet, again another first for Dial-a-Cab.
At the time of writing this article, we are about to enter the first week of testing this service. It may not mean much to you, but believe me it is revolutionary. It really is such a pity that so many of you never see first hand what is being achieved at Brunswick House.
   Recently I have seen news items in the press that one of our main competitors is soon to launch their own real-time booking system. This doesn't surprise me as we have been working on ours long enough for it not be kept secret. What would be sad is if we fail to take the initiative and exploit the technological advances that we have made to their full potential.
   And what is that full potential? Well, this brings me back to the beginning of the article and the poisoned chalice. Those of you with access to a PC and who have the capability to view my recently designed Dial-a-Cab website, will see a flash demo depicting a client's secretary booking a cab via the Internet from the PC at her desk. It shows her recalling the trip and sending a message to a DaC driver exactly the same as our call takers do in the Call Centre. At present we have six of our large corporates using this service and they are so impressed that they are asking if other services can be made available on-line. It is my opinion and I hasten to add, not necessarily the opinion of any other member of the Board, that a link up running on the back of our software could be made available to our clients, offering a number of other services outside of our own.
   In theory it would mean that should one of our clients require a particular service, they would go into their PC and simply click on the Dial-a-Cab 'One Stop Shop' icon, which would bring up a screen showing various types of services, such as Licensed Cabs, Limo's, Airlines, Trains, Theatres etc etc, On selecting the service they required, they would then link via the Internet directly to the company offering that service. Dial-a-Cab would have no direct involvement with any of the companies offering the other services. Each company would be autonomous and supply their own billing. The only concession we would make is our ability to extract data from these respective companies, that we would use to supply our clients with management information stats, which is one of the primary reasons for having a 'one stop shop' service.

Allen Togwell