| * Article published in the local newspaper Vestmanlands Läns Tidning on 1 Octorber 2003 *
Easier navigationfor taxi drivers
 A navigator in the car. Taxi Västerås has bought a satellite navigation system and installed it 65-70 cars. |
|
GPS is short for Global Positioning Sytem, a system based on orbiting satellites. GPS can give highly accurate position and navigation information all over the world. 24 satellites hover 200 000 kilometres above the ground and continuously send precise positions. A GPS receiver could be described as an advanced compass. Any point on the Earth's surface could be called an address. The address consists of two sets of numbers, the X and Y coordinates, which represent an exact point at which a horizontal latitude line intersects with a vertical longitude line. When a GPS receiver displays a position it saves it as an address.
Source: KLS Innovation
|
|
|
|
Taxi Västerås is investing in a satellite navigation system. An investment that will cost SEK 6 million (about EUR 667 000). This means that the company will be able to organise taxi trips more efficiently.
The taxi company has been working on the new system for about three weeks.
Now it's in service.
Apart from a few minor adjustments, the navigation system is working well.
The system was made by Västerås company Halda System. In broad terms, this is how it works:
Västerås is divided into 40-50 zones. In these zones the taxis are controlled via GPS. In each car the driver has a personal computer which receives information. The next trip is displayed on a screen.
The driver can also view a map on the screen. At the dispatching centre, the operators' screens also show a map, giving them complete control over the taxis.
The basis of the system is higher efficiency, resulting in a better environment and improved financial performance, as well as more satisfied customers. Taxi Västerås CEO Leif Eriksson gives an example to illustrate the qualities of the system.
"Say that a taxi has to go to the hospital, and at the same time as that car is on its way, we get an order from a customer who wants a taxi to go from the hospital. We can then book the trip with the car that is on its way there. Before, we couldn't give a trip to a car that was driving a customer until it was free. This meant that we had to give the trip from the hospital to a driver who was somewhere else, perhaps in a totally different part of the town," says Leif Eriksson.
"The principle of the system is that the driver who is nearest should get the trip.
The new system also incorporates good safety and security.
"If a driver gives an alarm we can locate the car precisely," says Leif Eriksson.
65-70 taxis have been fitted with the navigation system, and 200 drivers have attended the training course.
The system costs between SEK 5 and 6 million (EUR 555 000 to EUR 666 000). This comes to a cost per car of about SEK 90 000 (about EUR .10 000)
One of the drivers who have driven with the new system is Björn Malmström, who has been a taxi driver for twelve years.
"I've been out driving and testing the system for a few hours and I think it works very well. I've had no problems at all changing zones and accepting trips, Björn Malmström says.
The navigation system can't give directions to the driver, for example: "Turn right at the next crossroads".
Leif Eriksson thinks that the next version of the their system is sure to be able to show an indication on the screen so that the driver knows more or less which way to go.
Today, Taxi Västerås is implementing a five percent increase in its rates.
According to company CEO Leif Eriksson, this isn't because they've just bought a new system, but because they haven't increased the rates for two years and the drivers have just had a pay rise.
The satellite navigation system that Taxi Västerås have just begun to use is already in use in Norway and Denmark, and in Sweden it's operating in towns such as Nyköping and Skövde.
Christer Karlsson |
