Shanghai's taxi authorities launched an industry call center yesterday, which is expected to cover all of the city's cabs in the near future.

Now only 2,000 cabs in the city are connected to the center. By 2007, the call center will be able to locate all the city's 42,000 taxis and find the nearest vacant taxi for any passenger who calls the hot line (96965) to book a cab, said a statement from the Shanghai Taxi Administration Office.

Taxi authorities hope the city-wide call center will help local residents find taxis more easily by dialing the hot line during rush hours and will better utilize taxis.

Currently, only the four biggest taxi operators out of the city's more than 300 taxi companies have their own call centers, which only cover cabs owned by their own firms.

'After the call center covers the entire taxi industry, residents can book a cab operated by any company,' said Qiu Zhenzheng, an official with the authority.

He noted this would help lower the possibilities that an empty taxi runs on the roads, as part of the steps taken to improve the city's seriously clogged traffic.

Meanwhile, the 2,000 taxis currently connected to the center are also equipped with colorful display screens as the onboard terminal of the industry call center, which can run Taxi TV, a digital TV program designed for taxis.

The authority said more functions will be added to the terminals soon, such as electronic maps and traffic information. 

2005/01/01
Source:Shanghai Daily News