Australia-wide taxi booking by SMS coming soon

Stuart Corner
Monday, 18 April 2011 18:49

Your IT - Mobility

Taxi 131 008 - the operator of the national 131008 number that directs bookings to over 300 different taxi services based on the callers' location - has launched an SMS booking service using technology from Sybase 365.

Travellers can now book a taxi by smsing a three letter code that identifies their city followed either by their full address or a three digit code that identifies a number of well-know locations in each city. The service uses a premium number, 1999-0008, and calls are charged at $1.50. The service is supported by Sybase 365's mobile customer relationship management product (mCRM).

Paul Mifsud, executive officer of Taxi 131-008, said: "We are proud to offer all our taxi services, large or small, access to this innovative service with absolutely no software, hardware, licensing or messaging costs whatsoever, and we will provide them with significant marketing assistance in the form of instruction cards and other collateral to promote the service to their passengers."

He added: "The SMS 1999-0008 service has been trialled in Perth, and is being launched in Rockhampton and Mandurah today. We are in the process of bringing other 131008 taxi services on board."

According to Sybase 365, "The SMS service will be of particular benefit to Australians without fixed line access, who cannot take advantage of the capped 25c fee for 13 numbers." (It will also appeal to those frustrated by the inability of taxi service voice recognition systems to comprehend their attempts at specifying destination suburbs)

"The proportion of Australians going 'mobile-only' for voice communications has reached 14 percent last year, according to ACMA,' said Adam Brito, sales director ANZ at Sybase 365. "In most cases, booking via SMS will be cheaper than a mobile phone call. Besides potential cost savings, the service is convenient for consumers and saves them time, particularly during peak periods when it's hard to get through to taxi companies over the phone."