A company representative demonstrates on the screen how the taxi app works.

A new taxi app on show at the recent China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services offers new hope to passengers trying to get home during rush hour.

Passengers complain that it is hard to hail a taxi in Beijing, especially in rush hours, while drivers grumble that low incomes and bad urban traffic conditions make it impossible to get ideal passengers.

Open Taxi, a newly launched free mobile terminal app, is an attempt to create a shared information platform for the city's cab industry.

The new app is designed by Beijing Wappin Ltd and works for Apple iOS and Google Android platforms. Its two versions - Open Taxi and Open Taxi for Drivers - create a more convenient platform for calling a taxi.

By logging in on the app, passengers can make a group call to nearby drivers and wait for any vacant taxis to reply.

The app also allows passengers to make appointments with drivers with the press of a button.

Unlike the user-oriented app, Open Taxi for Drivers has even more practical functions.

When "In Service" mode is active, drivers will be able to receive taxi calls with detailed information from passengers.

The app also features a voice system so that the driver is not distracted by the need to look at the mobile screen. Additionally, it includes a search function displaying nearby restaurants, public restrooms and other useful information.

Once the driver receives a taxi call, the app maps out a route to where the passenger is, and the passenger's cell phone number is shown on screen.

The app brings more and better potential passengers to help taxi drivers improve efficiency and proportionally increase their income.

To date, the average rate of calls answered using all installed apps has reached about 60 percent. The apps have helped generate roughly 6,000 to 8,000 trips for each taxi every month.

Beijing Wappin Ltd is the first app developer in the nation to provide mobile Internet taxi call services.

Now the app platform has more than 30,000 registered taxies. In addition to Beijing, the company has signed deals with taxi companies in many other cities and received strategic investments from some of the major transportation app suppliers to extend its advantages in the industry.

chenzhilin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/04/2013 page12)