Southwell man explains how his web firm WhatTaxi is cutting cab costs and emissions
An innovative web platform business that could help reduce vehicle carbon emissions has been launched.
Patrick Smith, from Southwell, has developed a website for taxi drivers to co-ordinate their journeys when dropping off or collecting passengers from airports.
The plan is to reduce so-called empty car journeys, which will also aim to reduce overall costs for passengers.
Traditionally, when a taxi is booked, the cost of any journey by taxi is calculated to include the return to base after the fare has been dropped off.
Mr Smith’s idea is to match an outward journey with a fare that is returning. Therefore, the cab would not be returning empty so the fare from the airport would pick up that portion of the cost.
Carbon emissions would be reduced because only one taxi would be used rather than two.
The original idea came from Mr Smith’s father, whom he described as a typical Yorkshireman, always looking to save money.
Mr Smith said: “He was sitting in a cab on his way to the airport, and thought there must be a way to travel to and from the airport for less money.
“I also thought, people still want to fly and they enjoy going on holidays abroad, but they feel guilty for the carbon footprint their create so this is a way to lessen the guilt for them as they are making the same journey, but with less of a carbon footprint.”
The platform — www.what.taxi — organises bookings and searches for matches using algorithms.
It calculates where each vehicle is returning to and how large the radius is that would make a return journey still cost-effective.
Passengers can book their journey through the website and the algorithms will establish if there is a return journey that can be done by the same driver, so there is no “empty” journey where the taxi has no passengers.
The first job booked with the taxi becomes the priority and others then are layered around that specific route.
“Taxi companies can’t create that connection between passing taxi drivers, making filling wasteful taxi journeys a difficult task, but we can create that moment of connection,” said Mr Smith.
A larger radius also allows the driver to ferry passengers from airports in cities such as Heathrow and Gatwick into smaller local areas where their homes are located, and allows for multiple drop-offs on the way back.
Through using this system, each passenger saves 25% on their total price.
