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The Hong Kong Taxi and Public
Light Bus Association
Mr. William Lam
How To Make The Best Use of Internet
Service
In Delivering Quality Taxi Service In Hong Kong
Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to the Quality Taxi Services Forum. I am
William Lam, representing The HONG KONG TAXI AND
PUBLIC LIGHT BUS ASSOCIATION . It is a great honour
for me to address you on the topic of "HOW TO
MAKE THE BEST USE OF INTERNET SERVICE IN DELIVERING
QUALITY TAXI SERVICE IN HONG KONG."
INTRODUCTION
We all know that taxis play a very
essential role in our public transport service market.
Taxis provide passengers with personalized point-to-point
transport service, and drop you off at your destination.
Such convenience is of which MTR or buses cannot
provide you with. The best media that we should
use to further expand the taxi services and to improve
taxi service quality would be through the INTERNET.
Let us start with how the INTERNET
can facilitate taxi bookings.
THE CONCEPTS
Even though taxis can be hailed anywhere
on the street, you cannot be guaranteed to get the
best taxi service, nor find a taxi during the hot
summer season when the demand for taxis is high,
or during shift changing periods. Most of all, the
English language proficiency of some taxi drivers
pose a great barrier for them to communicate with
foreigners. To solve these problems, all you need
to do is to book a taxi ahead. The preliminary steps
to accomplish this would be as follows:
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1.
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Go to the designated web site
in the Internet and input into the web site
your name, contact phone number, pick up time
and date and your destination in advance.
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2.
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Upon receiving the information,
the web operator will arrange for a taxi driver
amongst the list of available taxi drivers
who must be members of this scheme, and notify
him/her immediately of the booking.
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3.
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Upon receiving confirmation
from the taxi driver, the web operator will
return to the customer via the internet and
notify him/her of the relevant taxi driver's
information such as name and taxi plate number,
etc. A confirmation of this transaction will
be faxed to neighbouring taxi company for
the taxi driver's acknowledgement.
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4.
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Upon meeting with the customer
and prior to driving him/her to the destinated
point, this confirmation notice will be shown
to the customer for his/her acknowledgement
and agreement.
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5.
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Taxi fares are chargeable to
the passengers by off line credit card payment.
Receipts are available upon request.
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THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR CONCEPTS
To guarantee reliable taxi bookings,
the following procedures will be applied:
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1.
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Only bookings chargeable through
credit cards are accepted to avoid
any unnecessary false bookings.
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2.
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All drivers of the scheme should
meet some basic requirements such as social
skills which includes good manners, good
driving skills and ability to communicate
with passengers in basic Cantonese, English
or Mandarin.
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3.
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All drivers should be in a
presentable attire, drivers are proposed
to wear uniforms.
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4.
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Specific labels will be placed
on these taxis which made them easily identified
from other taxis.
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5.
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A code of practice will be
applied to all taxi drivers and penalty will
be given to those drivers who constantly fail
to follow these requirements, for instance,
drivers who constantly fail to pick up the
customers punctually will have their deposit
foreited, or be removed from the members'
list etc.
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6.
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Taxi fares are chargeable by
off line credit card payment via the web operator.
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7.
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Passengers will be required
to present their credit cards prior to perusal
of the pre-booked taxi service for verification
purposes.
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8.
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Taxi pager stations or companies
are welcomed to join the scheme.
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9.
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The end-product of this concept
will be widely promoted in the web site both
locally through the Hong Kong Tourist Association
and the Transport Department for instance,
and internationally through other various
means, for example, through advertisements,
etc.
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PROS AND CONS
PROS
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a.
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Offer convenience to foreign
travelers and local citizens to have a taxi
reserved ahead for their use at specified
time and at designated location.
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b.
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Avoid having to wait for your
turn at long passenger queue.
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c.
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Promote a better image of taxi
drivers in Hong Kong.
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d.
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Increase the general revenue
of pager stations and earnings for taxi drivers
on the whole.
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e.
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Provide a stepstone for various
initiatives and future developments, for instance,
GPS, wap phone booking and online credit card
charge, etc.
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f.
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Attract world-wide attention
to the taxi services in Hong Kong.
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CONS
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a.
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More direct competition through
internet booking.
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b.
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The availability of taxis on
the road for general public, those who have
not booked ahead, may be reduced as some taxis
will probably be reserved.
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c.
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The less competitive pager
stations and taxi-operator companies will
be forced to close down.
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d.
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The service may not be widely
approved or accepted initially due to the
reserved attitude of the general public who
prefer to stick to traditional methods of
hailing taxis on the street.
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e.
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For people working outdoors,
Internet may not be readily accessible to
them.
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f.
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Credit card companies will
have to undergo various verification and payment
procedures for the off line charging.
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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
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1.
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Build up a user-friendly and
reliable taxi booking system for tourists
and those local passengers who use Internet
frequently.
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2.
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Set up taxi booking stands
in streets and in major shopping malls.
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3.
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Installation of GPS on taxis
to ensure real-time booking and confirmation.
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4.
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Design a quick charging system
such as prepaid charging cards.
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5.
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Issuance of membership cards
to frequent users with various facilities
offered such as discount offers etc.
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6.
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Well designed and informative
website, for instance, including the latest
licence price, news of bank interest, members'chat
room and report lost items.
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7.
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Set up more LPG taxi repair
centers and computerized taxi trading platforms.
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8.
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Seek subsidy and assistance
on project developments, advertisement, driver
training projects and seminar etc.
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9.
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Set up companies specifically
operated for the advance taxi bookings through
internet and telephone.
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This is only the first step in the
IT direction, we can certainly further explore how
IT & internet are going to help the taxi industry
to move up the quality service ladder.
CONCLUSION
Although
this does not involve a hi-tech and heavy technological
investment, internet application on taxi booking
will eventually be a convenient tool for the general
public. Without considering this simple approach,
we cannot pave our way to greater levels of accomplishments.
Being one of the leading international cities, we
strongly believe that we can move our pace ahead
in developments than our neighbouring countries,
and of course with the necessary governmental support
as well.
SUPPORT OUR BELIEF !!
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