DIAL-A-CAB
AT THE
ITLA CONFERENCE - NEW ORLEANS
Report by Allen Togwell
Many of you may
already be familiar with the ITLA (International Taxi and Livery Association) but to those
who are not, it is an association of taxi proprietors from around the world. They hold
four conferences a year, mostly in the USA, with the one held in October usually being the
largest. Dial-a-Cab have been members for the past 12 years, myself being this
Society’s ITLA representative.
Unlike Com-Cab and Mountview who attend most of the conferences each year,
Dial-a-Cab have attended just three since becoming members, one of which was in London
last year.
The first conference that I attended was twelve years ago and was part of a
fact finding mission to assess the benefits of Data Despatch. I visited several cab
companies to compare working procedures and also to set up reciprocal agreements whereby
our respective clients could use each others services when they are in London, New York,
Washington or Boston etc.
This year being their 80th convention, their second largest ever and with
many of the stands exhibiting data systems and various types of MDT’s, it was agreed
that I should attend.
Traveling long distances alone is rarely a pleasure and this occasion was no exception. For the record, my trip to New Orleans comprised of a 15 hour outward journey, arriving in a heat wave with stifling humidity. That was followed by having to change hotel rooms three times because of cock-ups and not stepping a foot outside the hotel or Conference Hall alone unless in a cab on the advice that it was too dangerous (later to learn the advice was nonsense). And such was the heat that what walking I did do, combined with standing all day in the conference hall, resulted in blisters on both my feet the size and colour of globe artichokes!
The return trip was no better. Both airlines had no record of my flight and when I did get the flights arranged, I had five minutes to run on crippled feet in soft trainers that I had cut the tops off to get from one side of Miami Airport to the other to catch my connecting flight. Having made the flight, I then had more hassle as my seat had been double booked and finally, on arriving at Heathrow, I had to wait in the howling wind and rain for my cab which arrived half an hour late.
As unfortunate as my experiences were, I suppose I should be thankful that Big Al wasn’t passing though Miami Airport to witness my plight! Who do you think sold me the photo Ed..
The conference
Of the trip itself, it was as I hoped, extremely worthwhile. I don’t
know exactly how many taxi proprietors were present, but the hall during the sessions when
speeches were being made was equal in size and number to that of our average AGM. I spoke
to quite a few taxi operators as well as exhibitors and it was extremely interesting to
hear that the problems we encounter in London are exactly the same the world over. Taxi
drivers are the same, client demands are the same and system problems are the same! In the
past, it has been an accepted fact that credit work and client demands ie booking details,
management reports and reduced charges etc, were much greater in London than elsewhere.
This appears to be no longer the case. I was surprised at the number of taxi operators
whose percentage of credit work was equal to our own. Also the problems they were
encountering with their clients trying to get through on the phone and all the varying
methods they offered clients to book cabs including -believe it or not - real time
bookings via the Internet, albeit only primitive. In addition, there was Direct telephone
link. Email, Remote Call Taker Systems, Fax and Two digit phone identifications etc.
Quite a few were still using the old two way voice system, but more and more
were converting to Data Despatch. Companies selling data systems were on the increase,
including taxi operators who have developed their own systems - including GPS. The
majority of the systems I saw and heard about would not be suitable for us as most were
using data outputs of 6000 bps which was adequate for operators of 300 vehicles or less
and which appears to be the average size of most fleets over there.
Data system salesmen
The three major US players at present selling data systems to accommodate
fleets in excess of 1500 mobiles at the exhibition were GMSI, DDS and Mentor. I spent a
considerable time with all three and of all the questions I asked, one answer in
particular I found amusing. It was the answer as to what percentage of the market share
did their company have in the taxi industry? Quite amazingly, they all claimed 80%. This
apart, they all made a good case when demonstrating their own systems On the question of
hardware ie MDT’s, all of those on display were similar to each other with function
buttons similar to our own with the exception of one company who had a dual system of
buttons and touch screen. One of the functions of the touch screen
allowed
the driver who was making a delivery to be able to take the MDT out of its cradle and take
it into the client to sign across the screen as a receipt.
There were several taxi operators that I spoke to who were using GPS systems
that I found interesting because, unlike GPS systems being used in London which operate on
‘nearest cab’ only, they were using a GPS system which was both zonal and
‘nearest cab’. They used a zonal system for the centre of town and for out of
town they used ‘nearest cab’. That seemed to be very sensible. The GPS zonal
system operates exactly as our current system ie first driver in the zone with the
required attributes gets the trip. Zone query details were available to the driver as on
our present system and it also operates ranks within zones such as E14C. The driver can
see not just how many cabs are in front, but also those drivers call signs.
Meters and software
Two other features which impressed me was the ability to carry four
separate passengers or packages from the same pick-up and drop them to four separate
destinations as individual trips. There was also an integrated taxi meter within the
system.
On the question of meters, it is a fact that for years taxi meters in America
have been far more advanced than those used in London. So it didn’t surprise me, nor
could I fail to be impressed when seeing so many of the latest models. There were meters
half the size of our smallest models all with integrated swipe card readers and printers.
Call taker software was also impressive. Again it was interesting to hear the
problems their call takers were experiencing by having to remember to ask for client,
matter numbers, authorisation codes, cost centre numbers etc - almost identical to those
problems formerly experienced by our call takers. The various software packages they have
developed to overcome the problems were on show - very similar to our own V6.
As expected at exhibitions, there were the usual gimmicky stands. But one
that did interest me was a company who made a multitude of telescopic floor and dash
mounts for almost every make of MDT. Unlike our own crude meccano mounts, the examples on
display were both practical and stylish.
And finally…
In conclusion, I feel that Dial-a-Cab being there served a very useful
purpose. When Brian took over as Chairman, he chose among other things to embark on a
mission of raising the DaC profile. The progress to date speaks volumes of our
achievements under Brian’s leadership and the necessity to maintain that progress.
Our continuing presence at venues such as the ITLA and their European counterpart the IRU,
of which we are still waiting to join, is paramount if we are to keep abreast of what is
happening in the taxi industry around the world and in doing so remain leaders in our
field.
Metro Link 2001 Credti/Debit/SmartCard Meter with receipt facility as seen at the ITLA
show.
