Space-age technology solves taxi Y2K fears

By Keith Newman

Auckland's Co-op Taxis is about to close a deal on a new $2 million to $3 million dispatch system prompted by a lack of Y2K compliance assurances for its existing system.

The 700-taxi cooperative is evaluating two global positioning systems (GPS) which not only automatically allocate jobs to the closest available taxi but also "know" where every car is at any time in its journey. Another advantage is that if the driver is in trouble or a car has been stolen, other drivers can be sent to them.

"They can set off an alarm and a computer screen will show a map and an arrow with the cab number and where it is," said Co-op Taxis management group chairman Robert van Heiningen.

However, drivers wanting to take time out need not fear they will be monitored as they can switch the system off when they want to.

"It will only be in the case of emergency that we can track a car," he said.

Concerns that no one would give any guarantees about Year 2000 compliance contributed to the decision to upgrade. Mr van Heiningen is optimistic the GPS dispatch equipment can be in place within four to five months. It will replace the existing data dispatch technology which has been around for six years.

Co-op is evaluating Raywood and Sigtec technology, both of which are in use in Australia. It hopes to have the final contract sorted by the end of this week.

For a time, Co-op drivers will be crowded with technology as both systems are run in parallel until the swap over is complete.

Information between the communications centre in Newton Rd and cars is achieved using radio frequency and Co-op is also expecting to make a decision on how many of its radio-telephone units will need to be upgraded.

Mr van Heiningen said 10 years ago people used to ring for a taxi, the receiver would write it down and clip it to a belt which was wheeled to a dispatcher who called the closest car on two-way radio.

Then came computer-aided dispatch where calls were typed in and appeared on the screen for the dispatcher. Today Co-op uses data dispatch which plots the position of cabs in Auckland based on 80 areas.

The driver logs in from downtown Auckland, for example, which is zone one and the computer then gives him the next job that comes up. However, drivers don't have to be in the zone to win the business, that's based on trust and a guarantee to get to the job within 10 minutes.

The GPS locating of cabs will automatically ensure the closest car gets the job because it senses if the meter is running.