JP2002133457A - Taxi business operation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a taxi business operation method capable of contributing to service improvement to a customer by urging service competition among each taxi company. SOLUTION: Joint utilization of the same taxi vehicle is executed by plural taxi companies, and service menus of each taxi company are prepared by each taxi company. When the taxi vehicle is picked up by the customer, the taxi vehicle is driven following the service menu of the taxi company selected by the customer, and the sales by the driving is allowed to belong to the selected taxi company.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a taxi service management method, and more particularly, to a taxi service management method that promotes service competition between taxi companies, thereby contributing to improved service for customers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various proposals have been made by taxi companies to promote liberalization in the taxi industry, remove restrictions on unified regional charges, set up a unique fare system, and adopt a unique operation service.

[0003] These proposals from each taxi company should be welcomed by the customers and users, and each taxi company aims to improve customer service by competing with each other. Is expected.

[0004]

However, the conventional method of operating a taxi business involves keeping a large number of taxi vehicles dedicated to each taxi company and distributing them to the city to search for customers, Even if those taxi companies provide their own service, they will either take a taxi that they happen to find at that time or take a queue in the queue. There is nothing else.

[0005] For this reason, since it is not possible for the customer to select the service of the favorite taxi company, the taxi company tends to neglect their sales efforts to provide a new service, which eventually hinders the development of the industry. Problems have been pointed out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to promote service competition between taxi companies, thereby contributing to an improvement in service to customers. To provide a business operation method.

[0007] Other objects and operational effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art by referring to the following description in the specification.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a taxi service management method according to the present invention provides a method for sharing the same taxi vehicle with a plurality of taxi companies,
Each taxi company prepares a service menu for each taxi company, and when the taxi vehicle is picked up by the customer, the taxi vehicle is operated according to the service menu of the taxi company selected by the customer, and the sales by the operation are taken into account. It is characterized by belonging to the selected taxi company.

[0009] Here, various forms of ownership of the vehicles to be shared are assumed. As a first ownership form, it is assumed that ownership is left for each of a plurality of taxi companies that originally existed, but only the use is jointly performed by a plurality of taxi companies. According to such a vehicle ownership mode, the business method of the present invention can be immediately started only by a plurality of existing taxi companies gathering and sharing their own vehicles for shared use.

[0010] As a second mode of vehicle ownership, a plurality of taxi companies jointly establish a separate company, which owns all taxi vehicles and drivers. It is envisaged that all of this will be outsourced to another company and will only be responsible for the development or provision of services. According to this type of vehicle ownership, individual taxi companies are relieved from the trouble of hiring or managing drivers, but their profits depend exclusively on the quality of the provided services, so that appropriate taxi services are provided. Competition is expected to be triggered.

A third mode of vehicle ownership is to establish a taxi operation company which owns the vehicle or employs the driver, while a plurality of companies completely unrelated to the taxi business outsource the taxi operation business. The company will enter the taxi industry and bear only the development or provision of services. According to such a configuration, even a person who does not originally own a vehicle and is unrelated to the taxi industry can easily enter the taxi industry, and it is expected that further service competition will be caused.

Further, the contents of the service menu prepared for each taxi company can be variously determined from the viewpoints of a fee system, a traveling route, provided information, and the like.

Further, the attribution of the sales is to be made to the taxi company which provided the service selected by the customer. However, whether to make all, most, or part of the sales may be determined individually and appropriately.

According to such a configuration of the present invention, service competition between taxi companies is promoted, thereby contributing to an improvement in service to customers.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each taxi vehicle is operated according to a service menu of a taxi company specified by data read from a card carried by a user via an on-board card reader. You may.

According to such a configuration, by issuing a membership card by each taxi company or the like, it is possible to easily provide a service unique to the company to the user.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each taxi vehicle may be provided with a customer interface that allows the user to view a service menu list of each taxi company and select a taxi company.

According to such a configuration, the customer can efficiently select the service of each taxi company by using the customer interface.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the operating expenses of each taxi company may be borne by each taxi company according to the utilization rate.

According to such a configuration, each taxi company can surely obtain profits according to the degree of use of the provided service, and service competition is caused.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the service menu of each taxi company may include its own fare rules.

According to such a configuration, the customer can select his / her favorite taxi company service based on the fare rules.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the company-specific fare structure may include an initial fare item and an extra fare item.

According to such a configuration, each taxi company establishes a difference in the initial ride fee or the excess fee, thereby creating, for example, a fare system advantageous for a long-distance ride or a fare system advantageous for a short-distance ride. By doing so, differentiation from customers can be achieved.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the company-specific fare system may include time zone discount items.

According to such a configuration, the company-specific fare system may include an acquired point corresponding item.

According to such a configuration, the customer who has used the taxi service of his company for a certain amount or more can be differentiated by providing a special discount or the like.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the company-specific fare system may include a member discount item.

According to such a configuration, service competition can be induced by each taxi company providing a special member service.

[0030]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a taxi service management method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a taxi system to which the taxi service management method according to the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, the taxi system includes a plurality of taxi companies (for example, company A, company B, and company C).
, Company D, company E). As described above, various forms of possession of these groups of taxi vehicles are possible.

That is, as the first form of ownership, it is assumed that the ownership is left in each of the plurality of taxi companies that originally existed, but only the use is jointly performed by the plurality of taxi companies. According to such a vehicle ownership mode, the business method of the present invention can be immediately started only by a plurality of existing taxi companies gathering and sharing their own vehicles for shared use.

As a second mode of vehicle ownership, a plurality of taxi companies jointly establish a separate company, which owns all taxi vehicles and drivers. It is envisaged that all of this will be outsourced to another company and will only be responsible for the development or provision of services. According to this type of vehicle ownership, individual taxi companies are relieved from the trouble of hiring or managing drivers, but their profits depend exclusively on the quality of the provided services, so that appropriate taxi services are provided. Competition is expected to be triggered.

A third mode of vehicle ownership is to establish a taxi operation company that owns the vehicle or employs the driver, while a plurality of companies completely unrelated to the taxi business outsource the taxi operation business. The company will enter the taxi industry and bear only the development or provision of services. According to such a configuration, even a person who does not originally own a vehicle and is unrelated to the taxi industry can easily enter the taxi industry, and it is expected that further service competition will be caused.

The taxi vehicle 1 is provided with a wireless transceiver for wirelessly transmitting and receiving various data.
This wireless transceiver is connected to the wireless base station 2 via radio waves. The wireless base station 2 is further connected to a central management server 4 via a network 3.

The database 4a of the central management server 4 stores various data corresponding to the service contents of each taxi company. These data include, for example, a membership list (including a member ID) of each taxi company,
It includes a list of fare systems of each taxi company, a list of information provided by each taxi company, and the like.

The central management server 4 is further connected to information providing servers 61 to 6n via a network 5. Databases 61a to 61n of information providing servers 61 to 6n
6na includes various information contents (for example, music,
Movie, weather forecast, stock price, travel guide, sports, accommodation guide, transportation timetable, etc.). Therefore, the general management server 4 can provide various information contents to the taxi vehicle 1 according to the menu of the taxi company selected by the customer.

The central management server 4 is further connected to credit company servers 81 to 8n and bank servers 91 to 9n via a network 7. Databases 81a to 8na and 91a to 9na of those servers store credit card data and bank cash card data possessed by customers. For this reason, a customer riding the taxi vehicle 1 can use a credit card or a bank cash card (debit card) to pay a taxi fare or the like.

As will be described in detail later, each of the taxi vehicles 1 is provided with a customer interface that allows the user to browse a service menu list of each taxi company and select a taxi company.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a customer interface installed in a taxi vehicle. As shown in the figure, the customer interface 10 is installed on the rear surface of the backrest of the passenger seat 11 in the vehicle, and is configured to be operable by a customer sitting in the rear seat. The customer interface 10 is provided with an image display unit 10a for displaying various information to the customer and an operation unit 10b for inputting a customer's instruction. In the figure, a menu selection request image for prompting the customer to select a taxi company is displayed on the image display unit 10a.

Further, on the right side of the customer interface 10, there is provided a card reader 12 for allowing a customer to read a credit card, a bank cash card (debit card), and the like.

In the figure, reference numeral 13 denotes a taxi meter for calculating and displaying the fare according to the fare system of each taxi company, and reference numeral 14 denotes a seat in the driver's seat 15. This is a navigation device for instructing a traveling taxi driver on a traveling route.

Although not shown, a speaker system for providing various kinds of voice information and music information to customers is provided in the cabin of the taxi vehicle.

Next, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the vehicle-mounted system. As shown in the figure, the in-vehicle system includes a control unit 301, a card reader 302 (12), a display unit 303 (10a),
The operation unit 304 (10b) and the taxi meter 305 (1
3), a storage unit 306, a communication unit 307, a speaker system 308, and a navigation device 309 (14).

The control unit 301 is mainly composed of a microprocessor, and controls the whole vehicle-mounted system. A system program that defines the microprocessor of the control unit 301 is stored in the storage unit 3.
06 are stored in a semiconductor ROM or the like.

The card reader 302 (12) is for reading recorded data from the credit card, the bank cash card (debit card), the membership card of the taxi company, and the like described above.

Display section 303 (10a) and operation section 30
Reference numeral 4 (10b) corresponds to the image display unit and the operation unit of the customer interface 10 described above. The display unit 303 is constituted by, for example, a touch-panel type liquid crystal display, and the operation unit 304. Is composed of, for example, various key switches or direction indicating switches.

The taxi meter 305 (13) is mounted at the front left of the driver's seat as described above. The taxi meter 305 has a variable toll system, and is designated by the taxi company. It has a function to calculate the fare according to the company's fee structure and display it to customers. The charge system data used at this time may be stored in the storage unit 306 in advance, or may be obtained from the general management server 4 to the taxi side by wireless communication each time.

The storage unit 306 is used as a system program of the microprocessor, a work area for executing an operation, and the like.
And so on.

The communication unit 307 is constituted by a wireless modem or the like, and realizes wireless communication with a wireless base station via radio waves. This wireless communication is executed at the time of settlement of a credit card or a bank cash card (debit card), at the time of obtaining various data from the central management server 4, and the like.

The speaker system 308 is used for, for example, playing background music and transmitting various kinds of audio information such as news and weather forecast to a customer in the cabin of a taxi vehicle.
It is composed of various digital sound reproduction systems and the like.

The navigation device 309 (14) is for instructing a taxi driver sitting in the driver's seat on a traveling route, and is used particularly for various purposes in the present invention.

For example, when each taxi company offers its own sightseeing courses, it would be severe to memorize all the courses in one driver. Therefore, if each taxi company specifies the driving course in that way,
By displaying the traveling course on the screen of the navigation device 309, the taxi driver does not need to remember the road.

Even when the destination is specified by the customer, there is a course setting for each taxi company, such as a time priority service, an arrival time priority service, a view priority service, etc. for each taxi company. If so, those courses can also be used to direct taxi drivers.

In the case where each taxi company provides a service in which a customer instructs to go to a destination while sequentially picking up a plurality of customers, a suitable traveling route is selected according to the order of the pickup. It can also be used to instruct the driver.

As described above, the taxi service operation method of the present invention requires one driver to select a number of driving courses or routes provided by each taxi company. In this case, the device effectively functions as a support device for reducing the burden on the driver.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a taxi company and service selection process using the above-described vehicle-mounted system.

In the figure, when the processing is started, first, a taxi company selection guide screen is displayed on the display section 10a of the customer interface 10 (step 40).
1). Accordingly, a customer who picks up the taxi vehicle while driving in the city or waits for a customer in front of the station will select a taxi company that provides his / her favorite service according to this guidance screen.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the guidance screen for selecting a taxi company to be displayed. As shown in the figure, in this guidance screen,
A customer who has a membership contract with any taxi company is instructed to insert a membership card issued by the taxi company or the like into the card slot of the card reader 12. On the other hand, in the case of a non-member, a plurality of prepared taxi companies (in this example, company A, company B,
The user is instructed to select one of them (Company C, etc.).

Assuming that the customer who picked up the taxi vehicle is a non-member, the customer selects one of the taxi companies (Company A in this example) using the touch panel, and selects the selected taxi. The company is determined by operating the “YES” button on the operation unit 10b (step 40).
2NO, 404YES). Then, the display unit 10a displays
A guidance screen for the service menu of the taxi company (company A) is displayed (step 405), and a state of waiting for a selection operation is entered (step 406 NO).

FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the service menu guide screen of the taxi A thus displayed. As shown in the figure, the service menu of the taxi A has three types of services: a normal driving service, a sightseeing driving service, and an information providing service.

Here, the normal traveling service is a service for simply transferring a customer to a destination designated by the customer, and includes a taxi service provided by a current taxi company. Of course, each taxi company will be able to personalize or differentiate the transfer route or mode.

The sightseeing travel service is a service that travels while providing various types of sightseeing to customers. In particular, such as a taxi in Kyoto or Nara, where city travel and sightseeing are mixed. It is a service that is particularly effective as an option in the region. It goes without saying that each taxi company will be able to personalize and differentiate its tourism services.

The information providing service is to provide a variety of audio or video information to a customer in a taxi car through a speaker system or an image display unit to create a comfortable space in the car or to a destination. It is a service that provides various conveniences to customers before they arrive. It goes without saying that each taxi company will be able to individualize or differentiate the content or quality of the information provided. The information provided is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the information providing servers 61 to 6 for storing the corresponding information contents via the central management server 4
n can be ordered wirelessly.

In the guide screen shown in FIG. 6, a service detail selection operation is performed, and when the "YES" button operation is confirmed (step 406 YES), the service detail is displayed on the display screen 10a of the customer interface 10. A screen is displayed (step 407), and a state of waiting for the determination is made (step 408 NO).

FIG. 7 shows an example of the service detail screen when the normal service is selected on the guide screen shown in FIG. In this example, the fare system for the normal running of the taxi A is displayed. In other words, this fare system includes an initial fare item, an excess fee item, a late-night surcharge item, a time zone discount item, a return when returning home,
And a traffic congestion avoidance discount item.

As is well known, the initial ride fee item is a fee automatically charged for a certain traveling section after boarding, and is usually defined by two factors, the amount of money and the traveling distance.

The excess charge item is, as is well known, a charge or a charge unit that is charged in a portion beyond the first ride section where the initial ride charge is charged, and is defined by two factors of a unit distance and a charge charge. It is customary.

The midnight surcharge item is a surcharge rate applied to the midnight time zone, and is usually specified in a unit such as ~ divide.

The time zone discount item is a service newly disclosed in this specification. In a daytime time generally free in a residential area or the like, a certain discount rate is applied to increase the number of customers. It is what we are trying to figure out.

The return-to-home forwarding discount item is also a service newly disclosed in the present specification. For example, when each taxi vehicle returns to the garage at the end of business hours, the customer who rides in that direction is offered to the customer. Attempts to apply a certain discount.

The congestion avoidance discount item is also a service newly disclosed in this specification, and it is possible to avoid congestion for customers in relatively vacant areas or routes in a taxi or the like traveling in the city center. Therefore, a fixed discount rate is applied because the turnover rate can be improved.

Note that a member discount is applied to each of the above items for members who have contracted with the taxi company in advance.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the service detail screen when the sightseeing driving service is selected on the guide screen shown in FIG. In this example, a three-hour course and a six-hour course are prepared, and a fixed fee is charged for each. More specifically, the 3-hour course has sub-menus such as visiting historic spots, shopping-centered, and eating-centered, and efforts are being made to expand customer options accordingly. . Although not shown, similar options are provided for the 6-hour course.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a service detail screen when the sightseeing driving service is selected on the guide screen shown in FIG. In this example, as the information that can be provided, various information such as sightseeing information, railway / airmail information, news / weather forecast information, accommodation facility information, and horse racing information are prepared. As described above, such information can be obtained from various content servers on the network via wireless communication.

As described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9, in this embodiment, the selection operation (steps 404 and 4)
By executing step 06), the customer can arbitrarily refer to the service provided by each taxi company. Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, a predetermined escape process is incorporated in each of the selection screens and the guidance screens, and the customer can always perform a touch operation on the screen or a key operation of the operation unit. It is possible to return to the guide screen for selecting each taxi company (see FIG. 5) and the service menu guide screen (see FIG. 6). Therefore, after checking the service menus of various taxi companies, it is possible to select a taxi company that provides a desired service.

When a customer performs a predetermined decision operation because a favorite taxi company is found (step 408Y).
ES), setting processing corresponding to the determined content is executed (step 409). Then, in the case of the normal traveling service, the tax regulation of the taxi meter 13 is automatically set to the contents provided by the taxi company. In the case of a sightseeing driving service, a sightseeing course provided by the taxi company is automatically set in the navigation device 14,
Thereafter, the driver is automatically instructed on the traveling course or the drop-off point. Further, when the information providing service is selected, music and information images desired by the customer are provided via a speaker system or an image display device in the vehicle.

On the other hand, when the insertion of the member cart slot is selected on the taxi company selection screen shown in FIG. 5, the customer inserts the member card into the card slot of the card reader 12 and The service of the taxi company that issued the membership card is automatically selected, and the taxi meter, the navigation device, and the in-vehicle audio or video system are automatically set (YES in steps 402 and 403). As a result, the customer can always receive a specific service of a favorite taxi company without being bothered by a special selection operation.

When the taxi company is selected by the customer in this way, the selected content is wirelessly transmitted to the general management server 4 on the network. In addition to registering that fact in the file, the information providing servers 61 to 6
n and transfer it to each taxi vehicle.

Thereafter, the taxi vehicle operates the taxi vehicle according to the service menu of the taxi company selected by the customer, and attribute all or most of the sales by the operation to the selected taxi company.

More specifically, when the operation is completed,
The customer makes a settlement request using a credit cart, a debit card, or the like. Then, the settlement request information is wirelessly transmitted to the credit company servers 81 to 8n or the bank servers 91 to 9n via the integrated management server 4 on the network, and a predetermined authentication procedure is executed. At this time, the sales of each taxi vehicle are recorded in a sales file for each taxi company in the central management server 4. Each taxi company pays the operating expenses or profits to the taxi vehicle owner company or the operator employment company at a fixed rate based on the sales thus obtained.

Note that how much of the sales each taxi company pays to the vehicle operating company is a management-exclusive matter which depends on the capital structure and contribution degree of the company. Depending on whether the vehicle operating company is a completely separate company or a company with capital relations, the manner of payment of operating expenses will vary.

Further, in the above embodiment, the user of the membership card could be provided with a privilege corresponding to the integrated distance value similar to the mileage service applied to the passengers boarding the aircraft.

Also, as for the idea of differentiating between taxi companies, various other companies will propose various ideas. Examples include distance and regional fee structures, student discount services, discount services only for employees of specific companies, and the like.

Furthermore, the taxi business management method of the present invention realizes a novel business participation that allows companies that are completely unrelated to the taxi industry and companies that do not own vehicles to enter the taxi industry. It is considered to be a very significant place in these respects that contributes to the development of the taxi industry.

[0087]

As is apparent from the above description, the taxi business operation method of the present invention uses the same taxi vehicle jointly by a plurality of taxi companies, and provides a service for each taxi company to each taxi company. Prepare a menu,
When the taxi vehicle is picked up by the customer, the taxi vehicle is operated according to the service menu of the taxi company selected by the customer, and sales by the operation are attributed to the selected taxi company. By promoting service competition between taxi companies, it contributes to improving service to customers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a taxi system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a customer interface installed in a taxi vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the vehicle-mounted system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a taxi company and service selection process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a guide screen for selecting a taxi company.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a service menu guide screen of a taxi company.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a fare system guidance screen during normal traveling of a taxi company.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a fare system guide screen during a sightseeing run of a taxi company.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a guide screen of a taxi company information providing service.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Taxi vehicle 2 Radio base station 3 Network 4 General management server 5 Network 61-6n Information providing server 7 Network 81-8n Credit company server 91-9n Bank server 10 Customer interface 10a Display unit 10b Operation unit 11 Passenger seat 12 Card reader 13 Taxi meter 14 Navigation device 15 Driver's seat 301 Control unit 302 Card reader 303 Display unit 304 Operation unit 305 Taxi meter 306 Storage unit 307 Communication unit 308 Speaker system 309 Navigation device

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kazunori Kamo 2-5-8 Nishikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Achess Co., Ltd. (reference) 3E027 FA04 FA10

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. The same taxi vehicle is shared by a plurality of taxi companies, and a service menu for each taxi company is prepared for each of the taxi companies. A taxi business operation method comprising operating the taxi vehicle according to a selected taxi company service menu and attributed the sales of the operation to the selected taxi company. 2. The taxi business operation according to claim 1, wherein each taxi vehicle is operated according to a service menu of a taxi company specified by data read from a card held by a user via an on-board card reader. Method. 3. The taxi service management method according to claim 1, wherein each taxi vehicle is provided with a customer interface that enables a user to view a service menu list of each taxi company and select a taxi company. . 4. The taxi business operation method according to claim 1, wherein the operating expenses of each taxi company are borne by each taxi company according to the usage rate. 5. The taxi business operation method according to claim 1, wherein the service menu of each taxi company includes a fare rule specific to each company. 6. The taxi business operation method according to claim 5, wherein the company-specific fare system includes an initial ride charge item and an excess charge item. 7. The taxi business operation method according to claim 5, wherein the company-specific fare system includes a time zone discount item. 8. The taxi business operation method according to claim 5, wherein the company-specific fare system includes items corresponding to acquired points. 9. The taxi business operation method according to claim 5, wherein the company-specific fare system includes a member discount item.