A-Rix To Give You The Exact Taxi Fare From ubergizmo.com
Have you ever been stiffed by a cabbie that didn’t want to use the meter in their cab to calculate your fare? Well, if the A-Rix concept device ever becomes a reality, we might see a rather nice solution to the problem. It’s a tamper proof device that can calculate the fare with the help of a GPS chip. When the meter starts, it’ll record your starting position, and measure the distance between 2 consecutive points to calculate the distanced traveled, giving you the correct fare. It does have some rather nifty features, such as location information being displayed, a clock, indicator for ‘hired’ status, and also a backlit LCD to ensure you can read whatever is being displayed. Are you currently happy with the ways taxis are run, or would you rather they incorporate something like this into their routine?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
what happens when u go through say the tyne tunnlel or a simlar tunnel u will lose the gps singnal and wont clock the miles ?????
@another n t taxi driver, Good point and how will they know what rate to put in as all the taxi comps charge diffrent tariffs??? Just another gadget to carry round with the mobile,the ipod and all the other tehcno junk!Probly costs 10 times the average taxi fare to buy it!
“some rather nifty features, such as a clock, indicator for ‘hired’ status, and also a backlit LCD to ensure you can read whatever is being displayed” bet digitax are shitting themselves
@SC, It will definitely give an accurate distance calculation between two points but sadly will not stop the overcharging by the growing number of unscrupulous drivers in our trade.
They have already exploited a weakness in its features and KNOW how to re-calibrate it to suit any tariff they choose. This will mean that the fare shown on the meter will appear to be the correct one for the distance travelled, when in fact it is overinflated.
This will mirror the situation as it is now in Newcastle and elsewhere with the Digitax and Halda meters etc. The customers I have spoken to who are regulars and know when they have been overcharged, have said that the higher fare was actually displayed on the driver’s meter. This can only take place through an illegal re-calibration. These settings are then adjusted when the compliance test becomes due.
It would make sense for the enforcement officers to carry out permanent and random meter checks on all taxis both private hire and hackney.
In addition to these problems we have individuals who are telling customers in Newcastle that there is a ‘new’ minimum fare for the short distance jobs. For instance if you want to go to an office behind the Civic Centre in a taxi from ‘Old Orleans’ in the Haymarket (which is an illegal rank created on a service road), there are some drivers who will be prepared to charge you £5.00 minimum fare.
This type of charging is endemic throughout the whole trade and the most accurate meter in the world will not prevent it.
This is the job of the enforcement officers if they are at all interested in protecting the public.
it’s for the drivers not the punters.
If this catches on do you think our council will make the driver’s guide dog sit a locality test?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247236/Enthusiastic-city-council-issues-inclusive-taxi-driver-license-applications–Braille.html
Or will it just fall on deaf ears?