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Will the new initiative make a difference on the recent taxi apps competition landscape?

LTA begins trial test to better match taxi supply and demand

SINGAPORE – The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has begun a one-year trial for a new taxi information system that could help to better match taxi supply with demand.

Called the Taxi Information System (TIS), the trial will start today (Nov 5) and involve seven taxi stands located at HarbourFront Centre, Hitachi Towers, Keck Seng Tower, Lucky Plaza, Ngee Ann City, OG People’s Park and VivoCity.

In a press release, the LTA said that the TIS is meant to improve waiting times for commuters and reduce “empty cruising” for taxi drivers.

The TIS will use heat sensor technology to detect commuters waiting at a taxi queue in real-time and provide video footage via an intelligent camera to both parties.

Information on average waiting times will also be collected, and transmitted to the taxi call centres. The call centres will then broadcast the information to taxi drivers to encourage unhired taxis to head towards areas with a high demand.

For now, the system is configured to alert the taxi companies’ call centres automatically when there are 15 or more people in the queue, and when the average waiting time for a taxi is more than 15 minutes. The algorithm can be adjusted accordingly.

To add further convenience, the real-time footage of the taxi passenger queue will be available online at the MyTransport.SG website and mobile apps.

With access to such information, the LTA hopes that commuters “may then decide whether to join the queue or make alternative travel arrangements even before they get to the taxi stand”.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lta...and-demand

From a layman, it seems like an expensive investment (heat sensors?? + cameras??) into something where there is a seemingly cheaper and currently existing solution (mobile apps)

This sounds like an epic waste of taxpayer money, to try and beat the taxi apps.

(05-11-2014, 05:43 PM)Riderr2000 Wrote: [ -> ]From a layman, it seems like an expensive investment (heat sensors?? + cameras??) into something where there is a seemingly cheaper and currently existing solution (mobile apps)

It is an infrastructure building, instead of a business proposition. Infrastructure should be done by authority, open to all market players, and hopefully increase the productivity of the sector.

An interesting app...

LTA launches app to better match taxis with commuters

SINGAPORE – The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today (Dec 17) launched a new taxi app that uses crowd-sourcing to show the availability and location of taxis across the island.

The app–called Taxi-Taxi @SG–aims to better match available taxis to commuters and is now available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store for free.

LTA said that the app will allow commuters to see if there are available taxis nearby if they would like to hail one on the street.

“With this information, commuters can better decide whether to continue waiting for a taxi on the street, walk to a location with more available taxis, book a taxi instead, or make alternative transport arrangements,” said LTA.

Unlike third-party taxi booking apps that only show taxis which have signed up with them, the Taxi-Taxi @SG app will show the location of all available taxis from the 28,000 taxis registered in Singapore and let users broadcast their current locations to allow drivers to “find out where there is a high demand for taxis”.

LTA’s group director for Innovation and Infocomm Technology Mrs Rosina Howe-Teo said that the launch of the app is “part of LTA’s on-going efforts to explore innovative solutions to meet various transport needs”.

“We are translating data gathered from the six taxi companies on the locations of their 28,000 taxis into useful information to better match the demand and supply of taxi services.

“Commuters who wish to hail a taxi can get a quick sense of the number of available taxis near them, and decide whether it may be better to book a taxi instead. Meanwhile, taxi-drivers can find out where there is high demand for taxis and reduce empty cruising,” said Mrs Howe-Teo.

The new Taxi-Taxi @SG app is free and is available for download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lta...-commuters

I think they should just let uber, grabtaxi, hailo, and easy taxi fight it out. I mean, that's what open competition is about anyway - why regulate and control everything?

Tell me, what in Singapore is not highly regulated and controlled?
I can recall only one item and that was in the past...ministerial salaries/compensation, now there is closer scrutiny, or at least that is what I think.

(19-12-2014, 03:31 AM)Big Toe Wrote: [ -> ]Tell me, what in Singapore is not highly regulated and controlled?
I can recall only one item and that was in the past...ministerial salaries/compensation, now there is closer scrutiny, or at least that is what I think.

Ha! Ha!
Agree!
Singaporeans can only go to Hong Lim park to let go steam. But then, even there, there are a lot of rules & regulations. It's not really you can say anything you want, even there. You can be invited for "LIM KOPI"
hor!

(18-12-2014, 02:22 PM)chanwbkenneth Wrote: [ -> ]I think they should just let uber, grabtaxi, hailo, and easy taxi fight it out. I mean, that's what open competition is about anyway - why regulate and control everything?

Because they need to protect the interest of Singaporean stakeholders, namely, the consumers of taxi services n the drivers. In all fairness, I agree that market forces should be the main determinant for the success of these apps, but let's not forget, to these players, Singapore is just another market and we are nothing more than market share. Some regulation is required just to make sure they don't do stupid things which can distort the taxi market or worse, reward negative behaviours.

I prefer to hail a taxi. Only if i am in a remote area, I will book a taxi. This application might be good for me. I wonder if this is the beta version =)