Transport: Taxi Service

Taxis are far too expensive for most of us to use frequently. This needn't be the case.

This section discusses:

Existing Provision

What

Taxis provide personalised transport. They take you exactly where you want to go, when you want to go there.

How

Hailing a cab in a busy city is (in theory) just a matter of putting your arm out or walking to a nearby cab rank. In the countryside and at peak times, it more often involves making a booking by phone or internet.

Volume and Frequency

Few of us make heavy use of taxis as it is more economical and convenient to own our own car. If the cost were comparable to using our own car, then many, many more journeys would be made by taxi: especially those where some poor soul has to abstain from alcohol in order to drive home.

Financial Model

Fares are generally based on a combination of distance and time. Full-time taxi drivers have to earn a living in the time they spend actually driving customers. This has to subsidise the (often considerable) time they spend waiting for fares. During this time they are wholly unproductive.

Providers

While many drivers may own their own taxi, most are part of a group that can provide both advertising and coverage.

Trends

Fuel costs continue to rise, as does the minimum wage and the other costs of running a car. We are all coming under increasing moral pressure to use public transport more and cars less.

With Localnet

What

A significant proportion of journeys around a neighbourhood are perfectly adequately served by the OmniVan routes to and from the LocalHub but there will always be a need for ad hoc journeys across town or where the traveller needs to carry something heavy with them.

How

Localnet provides an ideal opportunity to share resources - both of electric cars and of drivers. The IT systems will allow on-the-fly allocation of cars and staff to the needs of the residents in the area. With the LocalHub  no more than a few miles from any of its customers, an electric car from the car-pool there can be outside your door, with a driver who would otherwise have been engaged in a task that is not time-critical and hence can wait till he returns or be reassigned.

Volume and Frequency

It is this service that will genuinely lead to people giving up their cars - or at least their second car. Many residents will use this service many times a week. With a substantial pool of cars and staff at every hub, a high quality service can be run without taking on huge numbers of staff and having to pay them to stand talking to each other in taxi ranks seven hours out of eight.

Many journeys, especially those made by the elderly and those not in full-time employment can be made at times that suit the provider. In the same way that we are used to choosing our flights on budget airlines we can pick from a range of time and price points.

Financial Model

The revenue from each journey only needs to cover the time spent on the journey and the fuel (electricity) and wear and tear on the vehicle. On the other hand, the service must be charged at a higher price than taking the same journey by (shared) OmniVan. Similarly, discounts for sharing a vehicle or for being flexible about the departure and/or arrival time will encourage taxi-sharing.

Because booking via localnet is so easy and is available to all in the area, it effectively aggregates the business and can hence optimise the service much more efficiently than any standalone taxi service that is trying to compete against dozens of similar services in the same area.

The pricing can even include bidding for travel. A resident may enter into the system that they're prepared to pay up to £X to get from A to B sometime tomorrow afternoon and don't mind sharing either way or diverting as long as they get there within half an hour. It's then up to the system to maximize revenue using the optimal combination of vehicle size, driver availability and routing. An ideal task for the computing power we have at our finger-tips today.

Taxi fares should be considerably lower for families that do not own their own car than for those that do. Those with two cars should pay even more. A good pricing strategy will provide significant employment for drivers while reducing car ownership in the community.

Providers

This service is provided by the localnet operator.

Evolution

It will take time to find the optimum pricing and scheduling model. People will gradually adjust the way they think about travel and come to rely more and more on this service. Gradually they will realise that they don't need a second car - or perhaps even a first.

Over the longer term, the electric vehicles will become autonomous and not require a driver at all. At this point the cost of a ride will reduce significantly. Because the electronics and systems to pilot cars automatically will initially be very expensive, it is through schemes like this, where the cars are efficiently utilised for many hours each day, that such systems will be cost-justified.

 

Comparison

The table below assesses the impact of localnet on this service on a scale of -5 to +5 (details here)

  Existing services As part of localnet Score
Scope Widely available though a taxi will often have to come from a nearby town. Available from every LocalHub so never further than the nearest village. +2
Frequency Only affordable for special trips for most people. Weekly to daily for most. +2
Security Horror stories abound. Drivers are licensed but easy to fake. Driver will frequently be known to the customer. +3
Convenience Highly variable depending on where the car has to come from and how busy they are. Ordering and payment integrated into main localnet app, smartphone and web interfaces. Should be able to respond within a few minutes as staff who are engaged on other tasks can be diverted immediately when needed. +3
Cost Fares have to subsidise idle time and provide entire income for many drivers. Much closer to a direct cost as idle time is spent on other tasks for which staff would have to be present anyway. Similarly, vehicles are both taxis and hire cars. Sophisticated pricing schemes, routing and selection of driver and vehicle optimize the service versus cost trade-offs. +5
Quality The standard of vehicle can vary significantly. Professionally maintained fleet of vehicles gives consistent high quality. +3
Carbon Footprint Not only are you taking a whole car that is normally capable of seating at least five on your journey, you're also carrying an extra person - and the car and driver have to reach you and get home again as well. Intelligent use of the vehicle pool to take the lightest, most efficient electric-powered vehicle, combined with on-the-fly optimisation of routing and combination with other deliveries that can be made on the same journey ensures radically lower energy costs. +4
Time Highly variable. Regular users will have the number on their phone but may end up ringing several firms to get one that can be with them at short notice. Will take only a few seconds to book a ride - especially once the user's favorite journeys have been entered once. Customers can trade time for price to suit their own pocket and schedule. +3
Resources Used Many taxis double as the driver's family car. The taxis are also the car-pool vehicles. 0
Reuse & Recycling Taxis are driven pretty heavily. The electric vehicles will also be driven heavily but will be lighter and simpler. They should also be modular so parts are replaced rather than whole vehicles being discarded. +1
Landfill Waste Worn out taxis are recycled eventually. Used electric vehicles are repaired and upgraded. +1
Other Differentiators Completely out of reach of many families. Those without a car cannot do many things open to those who own one. Gives poorer families access to activities that are currently open only to car owning familes +2

Services