The MDT's are come! The MDT's are coming!

We are very excited around here for our new Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) that are coming in! We are stepping into the new future of Yellow Cab. It's is going to be a new and more efficient tool to dispatch our cab drivers to you! The traditional way and the current way we are dispatching our drivers is through our radios. It works well. There are a few kinks with our radio dispatch though. We can only talk to one person at a time; if more than one person calls in, it cuts the radio off for everyone who's calling; sometimes they can't hear what we say or visa versa; or some where in our communication with the cab driver, orders do not get written up as they actually are. These issues make communication from customer to dispatcher to driver, much more complicated and therefore take that much longer to get a customer what he/she wants (be that a ride or a delivery). What will happen is that the screen the driver has will have all the available information right in front of him.

With our new MDT's we hope to alleviate most of these issues. In turn, it will cut down on the chaos that can happen on the radio. Another feature these MDT's have is a GPS feature. This will make for newer drivers to start on a somewhat even footing with more experienced drivers, again making your driver come to you quicker!

Another feature that will be so much more beneficial to you is a credit card machine right in the car. What we do now is that the driver takes your card and runs it though an imprint machine. He then takes that imprint and calls it back to dispatch, taking up radio times. The people at the dispatch then run those cards through their credit card machine. Then we wait and see if it's approved. Then we call back the driver with the information: if it was accepted, if it was declined, if we need the credit card numbers again. It's a long and almost futile venture, for both the driver and the customer who has to wait for this whole song and dance to run its course. But now, there will be a credit card machine in every car. When the MDT's make in the cars, all it will be is the driver has to take the customers card, put in the amount, and swipe the card. The End. Compared to what we do now, no wait.

All in all, we are excited because it will mean better customer service, it will mean quicker response time, and it will make every thing we do for you much easier.