Analysis Of Solutions For Dispatch Communication

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Being a major transportation service provider for the city of Springfield, Citi Taxi has suffered economically due to its out-dated radio dispatch system. Major issue is that the system is slow to adapt to the dynamic and diverse needs of our customers. The issue resulted in a noticeable shift in people’s preference for choosing a company for service. Consequently this raised concerns among brokers and drivers of Citi Taxi that initiated this research for possible solution.

The research orients around two feasible solutions. The first solution is upgrading the existing system. As it will be discussed more in-depth, radio dispatch systems are incompatible with dynamic nature of taxi industry. Therefore, upgrading the current radio system turns out to be not very promising. Second option is the implementation of Computer Aided dispatch system. It is a method of dispatching commercial vehicles by the assistance of computer. It is used to send and receive work related information through Mobile Data Terminal between dispatch office and cab units.

In recommendation, report suggests Citi Taxi to avoid upgrading the current radio dispatch system due to the discussed issues with the all radio dispatch products. Finally, the report encourages the implementation of Computer aided dispatch systems as it is proved to be a compatible solution that meets company requirements.

Table of Contents

Table of Figures

Definitions

Broker: any person who acknowledges orders or dispatches city plated vehicles that are owned by someone other than the person.

.

Brokerage: the business of a broker.

Cab: a commercially operating vehicle for providing conveyance service.

Cab Meter: a measuring device a used in a cab to calculate the fare for a trip.

Conveyance Service: conveying one or more persons in exchange for a fee.

Dispatch: the communication of information between a broker and a driver.

Dispatcher: a person who is employed by a broker to accept orders for a conveyance service and dispatching drivers.

Driver: the individual who has care and control of a cab

Fare: the amount of money displayed on the cab meter at the termination of a trip.

Fleet: one or more city plated vehicle being dispatched by a Broker.

(the Council of the City of London, Ontario, 2010)

1. INTRODUCTION

Citi taxi was established in 1993 in Springfield, Ontario. With a clear vision for the future; and a mission to maintain the utmost costumer service standard, the company has become the primary transportation service preference for the citizens of Springfield. It is now the city’s largest conveyance service provider with more than 120 operating cabs.

Unlike the glorious start in 1993 and the smooth sailing thereafter, our conventional radio dispatch system has resulted in a number of issues which have slowed down the company’s progress. In particular, after the development of new competent dispatch systems, smaller companies equipped with such devices have challenged our dispatching practise. These companies are posing a real threat even to such a largely established company as Citi Taxi. In fact, it has even been proclaimed by several concerned brokers and drivers that the newly established Springfield Carriage is stealing our customers thanks to their efficient modern system. Most importantly there is a noticeable shift in people’s preference when it comes to choosing a company for service.

If we do not act quickly enough to get a proper and reliable system, other companies who are willing to take our customers will move in. As representatives of our long time brokers, drivers and loyal customers, we feel the urgency to take proper action to maintain our company’s steady operation. This report serves that exact purpose by proposing two possible actions which the company can take. It also includes a recommendation which will enhance comprehension of the proposed technologies and therefore allow the board committee to make the most suitable decision.

We hope that this report will serve well as a guideline on what options are available in order to guarantee a prosperous future for City taxi.

2. BACKGROUND

In recent years, Springfield has developed economically and served the surrounding regions as a commercial centre. This supplied a growing demand for conveyance services in our city which enabled us to expand our business to the current state. Simultaneously, over the years dispatchers in our office have received a large volume of complaints from both our customers and drivers about the inefficiency of our conventional dispatching system.

The most general concern is that our operating system is slow to adapt to the dynamic and diverse needs of our customers. The most common issues of this system coming from the drivers are: "In big cities, the radio waves can be easily blocked by large buildings, which create dead zones. Rural areas also may have radio dead zones caused by geography such as hills and mountains or simply by the distance vehicles have to travel. Unless special precautions are taken and top-quality equipment is used, the communication from the dispatcher to the units may be interrupted or completely blocked." (Litherland, 2010). Also from our end of the dispatch communication, we know that "If an organization has a relatively low call volume, dispatch could be handled by a single operator or even by an automated dispatcher. However, larger numbers of calls may overwhelm a simple system or a single person. If a department doesn't have the resources to hire the appropriate number of dispatchers, or to get the proper amount of equipment, then the system is not going to work properly." (Litherland, 2010).

As we all know from our years of industry experience, a better kind of operation means better customer service. Although the fact that our system is trailing behind other companies’ cutting edge programs has been known to our office for a long time, it just has not been yet brought to light. We would like to take this chance and bring these issues to your attention; as well I would to like ensure we take immediate action to address this matter so that we stay true to our company motto, "Customer service has highest priority".

3. OPTIONS

After analyzing extensively our situation, we concluded that we can either improve our current dispatching system or introduce new technologies that require system set-up, orientation, and staff training.

3.1 Upgrading the Existing System

In terms of improving our existing system, upgrading can be an easy process as the facility is already radio-oriented and operating under the same basics. However, radio dispatch system has been proven to be ineffective in number of cases. In 2001, when terrorists attacked the New York City on September 11, police officers, fire fighters and the emergency rescue crews who were at the rescue scene experienced the incapability of radio dispatch system. When police helicopters noticed the falling of the south tower, they could not communicate with fire fighters who were already inside the north tower due to incompatibility of the radio systems they are using. As a result more than one hundred fire fighters died without knowing the evacuation order. (Snow, 2007)

Many organizations today still purchase different types of radio systems. This is mainly to avoid being on a same frequency level with others and therefore interrupting each other’s broadcasts. (Waterloo Region Record, 2008) However, the 9-11 incident proved that this is not a good practise for emergency situations. Because of this, there is new demand for unified yet uninterruptible radio dispatch systems that at least forms a local network of police, fire, ambulance and a participant organization.

Although this very demand outlined our research, we could not find any such products because the conceptual idea has not been commercially available. Nevertheless, we have listed a number of related products that have potential to be installed in our facility.

3.11 IP-based radio dispatch system "IP-based dispatch enables effective communications interoperability.  Dispatchers can connect and control UHF, VHF, 800 MHz, conventional, trunked, P25, iDEN, satellite and many other communications platforms"(Telex Communicatoins).

3.12 Trunked radio system unlike a conventional radio system that uses a dedicated channel (frequency) for each individual group of users. Trunked radio systems use a collection of channels which are available for many users. Although this method does not meet our demand, but it is still ideal for busy weekend nights.

Please refer to Appendix A for a visualization of the required schematic of the new system.

3.2 Implementing new system

Another option is to implement Computer-Aided Dispatch System (CADS). This is a fairly new concept but has been greatly popularized by many taxi companies because it is capable of "rationalizing operations that result in cost savings, and improve services. CADS is most often used to assist schedulers in preparing efficient vehicle schedules because it can optimize the number of trips that each vehicle can provide each day while minimizing nonrevenue miles and passenger wait times. It is often relied on by dispatchers to reroute vehicles when unexpected changes in schedule occur due to heavy traffic or altered pick-up times, or when additional service trips are needed. CADS can also facilitate reservations, billing, and reporting activities" (Research And Innovative Technology Administration).

Figure 2: MDT

Figure : Zone map mapThe main concept behind the CADS system is it’s the geometric interpretation of the city. CADS will place a grid over the community map to create a zone map. It will organize the incoming calls in terms of these zones. At the same time it keeps track of the positions of cabs in these zones by its automatic vehicle location feature. Every time there is call comes up from any of the zones, it will look for the first car listed in that particular zone and assigns the call to that car. This information will show up on drivers Mobile Data Terminal (MDT). MDT features a touch screen panel that allow a driver to receive and send information to central dispatch office. In addition two-way radio and taxi fare-meter, a comprehensive system will include Global Navigation System (GPS), Fare collection transaction, printing receipts option, and emergency alert feature. GPS system comes in handy when a driver is incapable of finding a given address. It significantly reduces the customer wait time and non-profit miles. It is user friendly and very helpful for new drivers to adapt to their work environment. It also comes with a fare-meter that calculates a fare for a trip based on the miles and time spent. It then allows the customer different payment options including debt, visa, or company account number. It also offers a safety feature, a little hidden button that a driver presses to inform the office if he feels threatened by his customer. Please refer to Appendix B for a visualization of the required schematic of the new system. (The Mississauga News, 2004)4131542984_42b308f650.jpgsc0006.jpg

4. CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS

From the two proposed options, we concluded that first option, the improvement of the existing system is incompatible with Citi Taxi’s future operation. We foresaw the prospect of implementing two- way radio systems. There is a lack of development in upgrading the system to a unified yet uninterruptible radio dispatch system which can cope with existing as well as new issues. Because of this, it is possible that the use the system may become redundant in the near future. Therefore, if Citi Taxi chooses to upgrade, it will not be long before a new more efficient and comprehensive system is required.

On the other hand, CADS is a fairly new concept. It has been greatly popularized by many taxi companies in North America. Unlike the out-dated radio dispatch system, there is noticeable developmental support for its continued use. In fact, the New York City police and fire departments quickly modified the technology for use in their own dispatch systems after the September 11 incident. We recommend the integration of CADS technology into the currently existing system as not only will this be a tremendous benefit to the company, but without it, Citi taxi’s chances of survival are slim.

While the implementation is essential, it will require at least two months for the systems to be installed, tested, and brought into an operational status. For the Mobile Data Terminals to be installed in all of the cabs in Citi Taxi’s fleet, we recommend using an installation by steps procedure. In this procedure, smaller portions of the fleet are dealt with at one particular time period. This will ensure that Citi Taxi’s usual business operations are unaffected by the installation process. Conclusively, it will cost $580,000 for the purchase and installation of 120 Vector9000 CADS Mobile Data Terminals on Citi taxi’s cabs. Since the estimated time for the operation is two months, we recommend that installation takes place in July and August, which are the slowest business time periods for Citi Taxi.

The above system is an extremely comprehensive one which tackles all the problems detailed in the first portion of this report. This system will allow us to win back all the customers we lost to other companies in the last few years, as well as draw in new ones. In conclusion we believe that the installation of the CADS system is the best course of action for Citi Taxi, since it is the most appropriate option.

Appendix A

Figure 3: Radio dispatch Systems from Telex Communications

8.PNG9.PNG

APPENDIX B00.png

Figure 4: Suggested CADS Models

REFERENCES