A NEW taxi-booking app may soon bring some respite to frustrated
commuters who find it difficult to get a cab here.
Called MoobiTaxi, it aims to make it easier and
faster for commuters to get their rides by bringing the mobile
booking services of all the cab operators under one platform.
Operators like ComfortDelGro, SMRT and Trans-Cab have their own
booking services and smartphone apps - services which MoobiTaxi
hopes it can consolidate.
The new app, developed by Maven Lab, which helped companies like
ComfortDelGro and NTUC with their iPhone apps, also allows
commuters to "check-in" their locations.
Nearby cabbies can then use the app, which acts like a radar, to
detect the alerts real-time and pick up passengers.
Maven Lab's vice-president of products, Mr Jonathan Pang, said this
feature is more effective than hailing a cab on the street.
"It helps to solve the common problem... when some passengers may
be waiting in a location not easily seen from the road."
While bigger operators already have an established booking system,
Mr Pang said the move will benefit smaller players, like Prime
Taxis, which still do not have a mobile booking service.
The latest move comes amid commuter complaints that they are not
able to secure cab bookings. The authorities put in place more
stringent rules last October, specially to improve services during
peak hours.
Among the beefed-up measures, taxi operators must answer more calls
and within a shorter time frame.
The largest cab operator ComfortDelGro, which owns 16,600 of the
27,000-plus taxis here, said it already has "a very advanced
taxi-booking system", but will consider working with external
apps.
Commuter Alvin Lee, who takes a cab to work every day, hopes the
MoobiTaxi app will make cab services here more reliable. "On some
days, it can take more than half an hour just to book a cab, even
though you see empty cabs on the road."
