Saturday, July 3, 2010

Taxi Automated Booking System (TABS) - Simulation

I have developed a taxi automated booking system (TABS). It is now being runned in simulation mode. A taxi company is likely to use this system with a fleet of 600 taxis. The simulation will reflect the real life situation quite closely. The booking fee is cheaper than the normal booking service.

A customer who wish to book a taxi will send a SMS to the server. You can try this service by sending a SMS as follows:
- Starhub mobile: Send "CAB " to 82028866
- M1 and Singtel Mobile: Send "CAB pppppp " to 82028866
Note: pppppp is the postal code of your location (not required for Starhub customers).

If a taxi is available within 2 km of your location, you will receive a SMS to call the mobile phone of the taxi driver. If no taxi is available,  a SMS will be sent to you, saying that you have been placed in the taxi queue.
Please join this trial. During the simulation run, you will get a simulated mobile phone number (i.e. not a real number) of the taxi.

PRIZE: I will be giving a Tangram book to one person, picked at random, from those who participated in the trial for each of the next three days. Good luck.

Tan Kin Lian