Roy April 21st, 2012
I have volunteered to test out the Hailocab smartphone application for Taxis which is due for general release shortly.
I went into the Hailocab offices in 12 Upper mount street and was firstly given a run through how a Taxi gets booked using the passenger/user application, it seems very intuitive, automatically inputting the address using the built in geolocator (this can be refined by the customer if they wish to be picked up elsewhere), the nearest driver will be offered the job and once accepted (must do so within 15 seconds) the Taxi appears on the customers screen as an icon on a map and they can view it approaching along along with an estimated time of arrival.
The driver application is FANTASTIC! If I never get a job from it, it’ll still be the best application on my iPhone by a mile, simply for the information it provides, most of all, the “shift report” facility.
Seriously, every driver should get this regardless of whether or not they want to accept work from hailocab ( the charge is 10% of the fare) or use their credit card payment facility (more on this later)
The Shift Report (I must stress that only the individual driver has access to this information, it is stored locally on the phone and is not accessible by Hailocab)
The first thing you do when you start your shift is change the shift status to “On shift”
Then you set your shift target, (what you hope to earn from the shift)
When you get a job you click the “POB” button (person on Board) regardless of whether it’s a hailo job or not, it automatically inserts the pick up location and the button changes to ”Take payment”, which is clicked at the end of the job and then the drop off location is inserted automatically.
Once “Take Payment” is clicked you are brought to the payment screen were you enter the fare + tips and whether it’s a cash or card payment (more later)
That’s it! ……… here’s what you get in return!
- Amount earned so far
- Amount per hour
- Amount per job
- Number of jobs
- % of time passenger on board
- Miles driven
- Miles with passenger on board
- Avg Miles per job
- Avg minutes per job
- Longest job
A bar graph showing how you are doing in relation to your target
A list showing all your jobs with date, time, pick up location and drop off location
Free!
Credit Card Payments:
If you use the above shift report facility you simply click “Card Payment” at the end of the fare and enter the card details, customer gets a text with date, time, pick up location/drop off location, driver details and the fare.
If you don’t use the shift report facility you click “Fast pay” and then you have to enter the pick up and drop off locations, otherwise it’s the same, the charge is a little less than 5% for the driver and free for the customers.
Driver Information (Brilliant!)
Another reason every Taxi driver should get this application is for the information sharing!
As you pass a rank (every rank, it never misses one) a pop up appears asking you how it’s moving, you click either Cabs needed, Moving, People waiting, Cabs not needed or dismiss, next driver that approaches it gets a note to say that however minutes ago it was reported that that rank was however you reported it
Driving past the Stilorgan park and a wedding party emerging looking for Taxis? click ”Job burst” the location is inserted automatically and you pick from small, medium or large, then nearby Taxis (might be you next time? .will be informed.
Again, pass a speed trap, you click “speed trap” , the location inserted automatically, you decide from directions, north, south, east, west and then other drivers nearby are informed
- Accidents, Breakdowns, traffic delay, road closures
all as above, very intuitive and easy to report, 2 clicks and you’re done
The charge for jobs received from Hailocab is 10% … too much?
Then there’s a button on the top of the screen called “Send me Hailo Jobs, Yes/No” just click No ……..sorted.
If the passenger features are half as useful as the drivers ones ( no reason to believe they won’t be?) then the passengers will have this application, if drivers have it …….and passengers have it ………. guess what? IT WILL WORK!
Sign up or be left behind!
More Later
