The modern way to book a taxi

In the old days booking a taxi could only be done in two ways. You either call up the taxi company or you book the taxi with the driver. Those days are well and truly over, with modern taxi companies offering a numerous booking methods.



For many people the simplest and preferred way to book their cab is to call the firm up. When calling you simply give the time, pick up point, destination and any other relevant details. When calling to book it is very helpful to both you and the taxi telephonist that you have the full details of your booking ready, this way the details can be taken quickly and accurately.



The second "traditional" way to book your taxi is to book your next journey when you are already in a taxi. Here the taxi driver will radio in the booking to the office who will be able to confirm the booking immediately. There are a couple of drawbacks with this method. Firstly you have to know the time and details of your booking whilst still in the taxi. Secondly, the radio signal between the office and driver may not be perfect which could result in the booking details being misunderstood.



The above two methods of booking your taxi have been around for as long as taxis themselves. The advent of modern telecommunications has bought about a plethora of new and advanced booking methods making taxi booking simpler than ever before.



Perhaps the most useful advancement in telephone technology to taxi companies is the development of Caller Line Identification (CLI). This technology allows the taxi operating system to recognise an incoming phone number and match it with details stored on the system's database. By connecting the phone number to details stored in the database the taxi booking system can bring up details of common addresses used by this number, as well as having the last pick up address already entered into the booking system. This saves a lot of time for the taxi company as well as reducing the possibility of typing errors.



The most popular new booking method is Interactive Voice Response (IVR). This system utilises Caller Line Identification to match the incoming telephone number to a set of reregistered pick up details. The IVR system allows users to register their most used pick up points and then simply press the corresponding number to have a taxi sent immediately to that point (e.g. Register home address as pick up point one, pressing 1 on the keypad when instructed to do so will have a taxi sent to that point). This cuts out the need to speak to an operator entirely and so reduces waiting time and also completely eliminates the possibility that the taxi will be sent to the wrong location as the details have been registered by the customer beforehand. The IVR system can also be configured to offer the caller the option to have a taxi sent immediately to the last pick up point ordered from that phone number.



Similar to IVR booking is text booking. As with the IVR system described above, text booking requires the user to reregister their pick up details with the taxi company. The customer can then send an SMS message to have a taxi sent immediately to the pick point of their choice. Again this cuts out entirely the need to speak to the office.



Some text booking systems also allow the taxi company to set up a list of shorthand place locations that correspond to real world places e.g. the word "Train" corresponds to the Train Station. The customer can then text the word "Train" to the taxi company to have a taxi sent to the train station. This cuts out the need to pre register to use the system.



As well as the telephone methods described above there are several internet methods available to book a taxi. Booking by email is perhaps the most obvious way to book a taxi online. Here the customer simply emails their booking details (pick up point, time, date, number of people, name etc) to the taxi company's email address who then input the details into their booking system and email the customer to confirm the booking. One major drawback with email booking is that it usually requires at least 24 hours notice to give the company enough time to check their emails and input the details.



Similar to email booking is the use of a form on the company's website to book the taxi. This is particularly popular for airport bookings as it allows the company to set out the exact details it needs for the booking in a form. It also ensures that vital details such as flight numbers, flight times and dates etc are transmitted to the company with 100% accuracy by the customer. Again, as with email bookings booking a taxi using this method requires at least 24 hours notice to ensure the company has time to input the booking into their system.



It is also possible for customers to book a taxi using an Ebooking system. This system allows the taxi company to set up login details for a customer and then allows the customer to book a taxi in real time by logging into the company's secure booking system. The customer can then input their full booking details and send it to the taxi company's booking system. Doing this is especially useful for account customers as it allows them to view past jobs and also allows the customer to book multiple jobs at once.