How To Keep Your Taxi Service Competitive?

Taxi services are a staple of the modern city landscape. No photo of London’s streets is truly complete without a cameo from one of their signature black cabs. Other countries’ striking yellow design has reached a status that is downright legendary. They’ve been around in their current form since the 19^th century. It’s rare to find someone in the Western world who hasn’t used them at least once in the last year.

Unfortunately, taxi service looks like a tradition that’s about to be outgrown by the convenience of modern technology. Newer companies like Uber offer a comparable service for a lower price. They also include a ton of extra features rarely found in normal city cabs. There’s no doubt the roads will feel just a bit lonelier without the comforting signs and distinct colours of taxis.

So if you own one, how can you make sure you remain up to date and agile with your services?

Creating a Modern Taxi

The answer, as with most businesses that are lagging behind, is actually very simple – get with the times. The way taxi service is running in many European cities is actually out of date. Most of us have had an experience in which we were late for something important and had to call a taxi only to be put on hold for 10 minutes and then told there’s no available cars. No one likes the feeling of getting in a cab and then realizing they have no cash and the driver doesn’t accept cards. And then there’s the wonderful experience of a cab driver who either will not shut up or blasts terrible music throughout the ride. You, as the person in charge of either your car or the entire company (especially the latter), need to eliminate these problems at their core.

Monitor Your Cabbies

There is no one fix-all solution to creating the ultimate taxi service. The problem with unprofessional cabbies can be fixed quite easily. Employing secret clients who ride incognito with certain drivers and then give them a grade. How fast did they get to their destination, how loud was their music, if any was playing, how did they behave socially? That data can be used to vet the various drivers and ensure they perform to the standard that is expected of them.

Kill The Call Center

The issue with long wait times can be mitigated by simply cutting out the middleman when calling cabs. When the customer wishes to call a taxi they can use a mobile app to place an order, with their phone’s GPS broadcasting their location to all available cabs within a certain radius. The driver who wishes to take the order can do so with a tap on their GPS. It will immediately send feedback to the consumer that a car is coming to them. This function maybe even allowing them to trace its location.

Let Your Customers Pay You Conveniently

What about payments, though? Surely accepting cards is going to be a slow process, especially for taxi companies that are struggling for profits anyway? Well, not necessarily.

myPOS specifically helps businesses like that, offering affordable, portable POS terminals for purchase that can read the leading bank cards. Each POS terminal comes with a free data card that allows it to connect to the Internet wherever its driver might take it, allowing the customer to pay electronically (and even offer whatever tip they like on top of that) in practically any location that also has cell signal. myPOS terminals are also excellent when you’re working with tourists, since they take pretty much any currency and offer convenient services like the ability to top up pre-paid phones straight from the payment terminal. And if you (or your drivers) need to pay for gas on the job or need access to cash, then you can do that with a business VISA card connected to the same business account as the terminal, allowing you to safely and easily make business transactions.

The only way to keep taxis relevant in the present instead of losing them to the past is to embrace the future. And the future of electronic payments is myPOS. If you have any questions about us, by all means message us at any time at help@mypos.com! We would be happy to assist your business!