NU12#5 - JP Molina GPS for taxis - Sentrep

Ateneo Innovation and Entrepreneurship "New ideas create more and better new products and services; create more wealth."

Philippine Taxis should have GPS and Digital Maps

GPS technology is not as expensive as it used to be. Nowadays it costs less than 10,000 pesos to install one. This means wherever you are, you can see where you are on a digital map on the dashboard.

I got this idea when  I was going to A.Venue Makati for my entrep class food trip. The taxi that I rode had a newbie driver.  He didn’t even know how to get to EDSA from Eastwood City!

Imagine my frustration when I tell you that I also didn’t know where A.Venue was located and how to get there.

So  I took out my smartphone and using the map and GPS was able to navigate to A.Venue.

Now imagine a customer who had no smartphone. This would be a real hassle for the customer. That’s why I’m proposing that all taxis have GPS installed in them.

This solves many problems aside from the one I had above. Passengers sometimes complain that their cab drivers are giving them the runaround and taking the longer route to earn more cash. If we install GPS, then the customer would know the route the taxi is taking from a macro view.

Another problem solved is when your loved ones are waiting for you and worried sick for you because you haven’t texted in the last 5 minutes. Well, GPS will enable them to view the taxi you are riding and where you are by just accessing the internet.

This gives extra security because the driver knows that other people are waiting for their passenger. Drivers with ill intentions cannot take the risk because their prospective victim will have a family who knows their taxi that their loved one took a ride in.

For the operator of taxis, this will help them monitor the performance of their drivers and they can instruct vacant taxis to go to prospective clients in an efficient system. 4