STRAIGHT TORQUIN ’
FOR A HASSLE FREE RIDE
THE SOLUTION : USE TAXI APPS , ONE OF THE SAFEST AND MOST RELIABLE WAYS TO BOOK A CAB
F or the many tourists that visited Malaysia during with the recent Formula One Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit , there should have been a travel advisory warning them that using taxis in Kuala Lumpur could well be more dangerous than the motorsport itself .
Recent crimes against taxi passengers include rape and robbery by criminals driving around in stolen taxis . There are also unscrupulous taxi drivers who refuse to use the meters . Avoid the taxi ranks at KLCC and the Pasar Seni because the taxi drivers who wait there are united against using meters .
While I would say that most of the taxi drivers who cruise around are professional drivers , that ’ s because I ’ m a native Malaysian who speaks Bahasa Malaysia , Cantonese and English , I wonder how the taxi driver treats his foreign tourist customer who is clueless about direction and distance .
If the letters to the editors tell a story , there are more knocks than praises regarding Malaysian taxi services .
One solution that has presented itself is the use taxi apps , the most popular and user-friendly of which is MyTeksi .
MyTeksi
it processes
2,000 taxi bookings per day
300 people use myteksi to the airport every day
40,000 people have downloaded its ios and android apps .
Visit http :// goo . gl / GJwod for more details . downloading myTeksi ’ s app ( for smartphones and tablet users ): Visit http :// myteksi . com
Regardless of whether you are a tourist or a native , so far it ’ s the safest and most reliable way to book a taxi . A taxi app is something that you download from the internet onto your smart phone and use to book a taxi . It ’ s smart because it uses the GPS chip that ’ s in your android-based Samsung or Apple i-Phone to locate where you are and where you want to go .
Summonsing the 3G in your smartphone , it uses the WiFi-enabled phone to communicate your location to the service provider , in this case MyTeksi , the first mover in Malaysia .
MyTeksi then seeks out the 1,000 taxis that are in its network and prompts those that are within a 15km radius of your pick-up location . Simultaneously , the system will tell you the approximate distance of your journey and the estimated cost of the trip .
When a taxi driver decides that he wants the job , he ’ ll respond to the MyTeksi prompt . The automated system will then update your smartphone with the following information :
“ Taxi HWD6977 is on its way & it is 2.9km away from you . Please contact your driver @ 01077319xx . Thank you for using MyTeksi .”
In a newer version of the MyTeksi app , the information is displayed in a more user friendly way with the following information displayed in a table format :
“ Your taxi will arrive in approximately : 7 minutes Plate Number : HWE82XX * Driver : M . Maulana Telephone : 01077319XX * Type : Budget From : 23 , Persiaran Mahagoni , Petaling Jaya To : Jaya33 The fare for your ride ( 15km ) is estimated to be between RM18 and RM22 .”
(* Numbers have been changed to protect identities .)
YAMIN VONG
EDITOR | yamin @ cbt . com . my
Taxi apps represent the congruence of smartphone and GPS technologies . We talk about how GPS will revolutionise the world , how it will make directories obsolete .
MyTeksi has competitors too . Taximonger is one , and the latest is Unicablink which needs the taxi driver to pay a monthly RM180 rental for the enabled Garmin GPS .
As taxi driver Mohamad noted , “ The MyTeksi app is with me , on my smartphone . It ’ s not stuck in the car .
“ I ’ ll wake up at 4am and switch on the phone . As I ’ m brushing my teeth , I ’ ll check MyTeksi for those who want rides to KLIA .
“ The driver who ’ s using the Unicablink must be in the car to use the Garmin which is fixed to the car ’ s dashboard ; with my smart phone I can start work even when I ’ m in the house .
“ There are other taxi apps in Malaysia , but I like MyTeksi best because I don ’ t have to pay RM180 a month . I only pay a prepaid amount which is deducted when I accept a job .
“ Now most of my trips are booked with MyTeksi . Then , when there is nothing suitable for me , I ’ ll go back to my base at the Curve .”
One advantage of the Unicablink system is its dedicated GPS . This directs the way to a location in a clearer manner than the small China-made smartphone that Mohamad used .
MyTeksi was started with a mission to revolutionise the taxi industry .
The runner-up in the 2011 Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest , one of the founders of MyTeksi is Anthony Tan .
“ Our great-grandfather was a taxi driver and we appreciate our family ’ s humble beginnings . I ’ m fascinated about the taxi industry ,” said Tan , a Harvard MBA graduate , and a respected member of the Tan Chong family .
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