Taxodrom.ru: catch on the map, not on the road!
On Habré more than once wrote about projects related to ordering a taxi, so I thought for a long time whether to write about our project. Having weighed the pros and cons, I decided to still tell Habr's readers about our creation, since we are in a certain sense fundamentally different from other similar services.
We position the Taxis as a platform where passengers and taxi drivers can easily find each other. One of the main tools for this is our Taxi Online service. This is a map showing taxi drivers in real time. You will say that there is already Yandex. Taxi (or someone else), and you will be partly right. But there is one important difference ...
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We are not an additional link between the client and the taxi driver.
On Taxi Online the passenger communicates directly with the driver. Neither Yandex.Taxi, nor other similar services that I know of, do not provide such an opportunity before making an order, since everyone wants to get their own percentage, which ultimately affects the price of the trip. It so happened that today, in the Moscow taxi market, an absolute majority of companies are dispatching offices that do not have their own cars. Taxis, which have their cars, can be counted on the fingers. The taxi driver dispatches an average of 15-25% of the order. In the case of Yandex.Taxi (and they currently only work with the control room), another additional link arises between the driver and the client. I will not delve into this topic (you can talk for hours about problems), I will only note that the order from the client to the driver passes through intermediaries, which means that the cost of the order as a whole may be higher, and the service is worse, since it is difficult to find someone to blame (in case the car was filed at the wrong time, well, or not at all).
To solve the above problems, we decided to give customers the opportunity to communicate with drivers directly and provide them with a convenient platform.
In addition to direct communication with the driver, the passenger receives the following benefits:
1. Price and convenience . You can select a driver on the map by category (economy, comfort, business or vip), as well as by viewing driver’s rates;
2. Awareness . The client immediately sees the brand of the car, the name of the driver, his phone number, the license plate of the car, and sometimes the driver’s photo The passenger also sees the driver constantly moving on the card;
3. Security . We conclude an agreement with the drivers connected to the system, which is a guarantee that no “random” people will appear on the map.
All this is aimed at minimizing the number of “surprises” (“I ordered an economy, and comfort came,” “a broken seven arrived,” etc.) for passengers. It is clear, of course, that we cannot solve all the problems, but we try to make the communication between customers and drivers more predictable.
Perhaps one of the main problems was that the service is quite new and unusual (we launched the map about a year ago). Initially, we were treated with caution and passengers and drivers. Probably 2 or even 3 months have passed since the launch of the card, when we were able to connect the first driver to the system. It is very difficult to promote something new, but gradually we cope with it.
The next problem was that the Moscow taxi market is a chaos. Amendments to the law on taxis were adopted only in spring 2011, from September 1, it began to act, and they will begin to fine only from this year. Most drivers were not officially registered, which is also not very good. In this direction, we also made a lot of effort to explain to drivers why it is worth officially registering, paying taxes, etc. It is worth noting that we still managed to convince many drivers, and they got the status of individual entrepreneurs, licenses (permission) for taxis and other attributes :)
We work both with “private traders” and taxi services. Currently, over 50 drivers are connected to the Taxi Online system, but at the same time on the map, unfortunately, no more than 10-15 are lit. This, of course, is not enough for Moscow (you need at least 100), but we are working to gradually increase the number of drivers on the map.
At the moment, we have a terminal for Windows CE and Windows Mobile for drivers, in the development version for Android. We didn’t meet drivers with iPhones, but Android is becoming increasingly popular.
1. To form more or less flat tariffs that take into account the interests of both the driver and the client, and encourage drivers working on these tariffs. This is aimed at ensuring that drivers do not greatly overcharge (for example, on the New Year three times), or do not “dumping”. The second case mainly relates to inexperienced taxi drivers who cannot correctly calculate their costs (time, gasoline, depreciation), which ultimately leads to misunderstandings: a) the driver works a lot and earns nothing, gets annoyed, and this affects the service and on the client; b) creates for the client a false picture of the prices of transportation, and this leads to the fact that the passenger is very surprised to hear the next time the “real” cost.
2. Sign a written contract only with drivers who have received official permission.
3. Make a convenient mobile application for passengers (Android, iOS)
4. Redesign the design and structure of the project (I hope we will live to see it)
For our work, we plan to take a small monthly fee. This, of course, will be several times lower than if the driver worked through the control room.
In conclusion, I would like to say that, in general, despite many problems in the field of taxis, there are shifts and hope that this market will someday become civilized, honest and predictable. For me, as one of the developers of Taxodrome , it is encouraging that IT plays a significant role in this difficult task.
I wish you safe and comfortable trips! :)
So, what is Taxodrome and how are we different from others?
We position the Taxis as a platform where passengers and taxi drivers can easily find each other. One of the main tools for this is our Taxi Online service. This is a map showing taxi drivers in real time. You will say that there is already Yandex. Taxi (or someone else), and you will be partly right. But there is one important difference ...
')
We are not an additional link between the client and the taxi driver.
On Taxi Online the passenger communicates directly with the driver. Neither Yandex.Taxi, nor other similar services that I know of, do not provide such an opportunity before making an order, since everyone wants to get their own percentage, which ultimately affects the price of the trip. It so happened that today, in the Moscow taxi market, an absolute majority of companies are dispatching offices that do not have their own cars. Taxis, which have their cars, can be counted on the fingers. The taxi driver dispatches an average of 15-25% of the order. In the case of Yandex.Taxi (and they currently only work with the control room), another additional link arises between the driver and the client. I will not delve into this topic (you can talk for hours about problems), I will only note that the order from the client to the driver passes through intermediaries, which means that the cost of the order as a whole may be higher, and the service is worse, since it is difficult to find someone to blame (in case the car was filed at the wrong time, well, or not at all).
To solve the above problems, we decided to give customers the opportunity to communicate with drivers directly and provide them with a convenient platform.
In addition to direct communication with the driver, the passenger receives the following benefits:
1. Price and convenience . You can select a driver on the map by category (economy, comfort, business or vip), as well as by viewing driver’s rates;
2. Awareness . The client immediately sees the brand of the car, the name of the driver, his phone number, the license plate of the car, and sometimes the driver’s photo The passenger also sees the driver constantly moving on the card;
3. Security . We conclude an agreement with the drivers connected to the system, which is a guarantee that no “random” people will appear on the map.
All this is aimed at minimizing the number of “surprises” (“I ordered an economy, and comfort came,” “a broken seven arrived,” etc.) for passengers. It is clear, of course, that we cannot solve all the problems, but we try to make the communication between customers and drivers more predictable.
The problems we are facing
Perhaps one of the main problems was that the service is quite new and unusual (we launched the map about a year ago). Initially, we were treated with caution and passengers and drivers. Probably 2 or even 3 months have passed since the launch of the card, when we were able to connect the first driver to the system. It is very difficult to promote something new, but gradually we cope with it.
The next problem was that the Moscow taxi market is a chaos. Amendments to the law on taxis were adopted only in spring 2011, from September 1, it began to act, and they will begin to fine only from this year. Most drivers were not officially registered, which is also not very good. In this direction, we also made a lot of effort to explain to drivers why it is worth officially registering, paying taxes, etc. It is worth noting that we still managed to convince many drivers, and they got the status of individual entrepreneurs, licenses (permission) for taxis and other attributes :)
Current situation
We work both with “private traders” and taxi services. Currently, over 50 drivers are connected to the Taxi Online system, but at the same time on the map, unfortunately, no more than 10-15 are lit. This, of course, is not enough for Moscow (you need at least 100), but we are working to gradually increase the number of drivers on the map.
At the moment, we have a terminal for Windows CE and Windows Mobile for drivers, in the development version for Android. We didn’t meet drivers with iPhones, but Android is becoming increasingly popular.
Plans
1. To form more or less flat tariffs that take into account the interests of both the driver and the client, and encourage drivers working on these tariffs. This is aimed at ensuring that drivers do not greatly overcharge (for example, on the New Year three times), or do not “dumping”. The second case mainly relates to inexperienced taxi drivers who cannot correctly calculate their costs (time, gasoline, depreciation), which ultimately leads to misunderstandings: a) the driver works a lot and earns nothing, gets annoyed, and this affects the service and on the client; b) creates for the client a false picture of the prices of transportation, and this leads to the fact that the passenger is very surprised to hear the next time the “real” cost.
2. Sign a written contract only with drivers who have received official permission.
3. Make a convenient mobile application for passengers (Android, iOS)
4. Redesign the design and structure of the project (I hope we will live to see it)
Monetization
For our work, we plan to take a small monthly fee. This, of course, will be several times lower than if the driver worked through the control room.
In conclusion, I would like to say that, in general, despite many problems in the field of taxis, there are shifts and hope that this market will someday become civilized, honest and predictable. For me, as one of the developers of Taxodrome , it is encouraging that IT plays a significant role in this difficult task.
I wish you safe and comfortable trips! :)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/137374/
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