Taxi Drivers & Taxi Ads

[Frezemis]

So after constantly seeing ads asking for Taxis and Ubers I realized it's actually not that realistic to post an advertisement asking for an Uber or Taxi because on a realism point of view, Advertisements are posted on placed like Criagslist, Bus stops as posters, Billboards, or even major websites like Facebook(Facebrower) for example.

 

Would you post an advertisement asking for an Uber on Criaglist? I mean you won't get much of a response but it just didn't make sense to me.

 

Should we allow these type of /ads?(/ad Need a cab)

 

Another thing to discuss, What should we do for taxi drivers? Should we increase their income? Should there be some type of automated advertisement saying that Taxi Co. has taxis on duty and that they could use the taxi services line?

 

This is just a normal discussion and more of a pet peeve with seeing these ads come up. If discussed enough I'll put in a suggestion. What do you think? Should we allow the ads and what should we do with the taxi system?

[baechi]

I agree with you Frezemis, I believe we should try to limit the amount of cab advertisements made by clients instead of companies. If we don't it kind of negates the fact that we have a taxi line service.

 

It's like if we wanted people to make /ad's for emergency calls, there's already another avenue available.

[thot_banned]

An advert saying "need a cab/uber" is just dumb. Shouldn't be a thing and it's just more needless spam that clutters up other players trying to make an ad which is already tedious enough as is.

 

I think the best route would be instead of that command that shows you how many cabs and mechanics or w/e are on in general, change it to show how many mechanics are on that are at shops or even have a shop to begin with, as well as maybe adding a /cabduty or something for taxi drivers to type so they come up, similar to how you would clock in and out at work. When they're doing the driving and they're onduty they'll show up, maybe have an automated ad that shows up for a cab co. if there's taxi drivers on duty so people know they can call for one.

 

As for income, as of right now I haven't really seen any incentive to play a cab driver over anything else. An increase of income for actively doing the job would be a smart move I think, perhaps getting a bonus from the script for getting a fare and successfully taking them to a destination? Like a mechanic can charge 500 or however much they charge for labor to do work, + they get their weekly pay or however the shop owner decides to pay their workers etc. I think maybe the taxi driver should get it from the script however, because a player having to pay it will just make people have naturally less incentive to call a taxi (for whatever reasons good or bad) and that would just render the job useless again. I don't know how the taxi system currently works but maybe like.. make an automated system that charges people like 100-200 a ride and gives the driver an extra 100-200 ontop of it (i.e they'd get 400 for a 200 ride, that kinda thing) or maybe even more, I don't really know how many people call for taxis so I can't really give a proper opinion on where I think the profits should be.

 

The only ads for cabs and what not made by players should be done by people actually roleplaying their own company (just like a garage gets to make ads) imo. 

 

That's my two cents, personally. 

[Fernando]

3 hours ago, Smonk said:

as well as maybe adding a /cabduty or something for taxi drivers to type so they come up, similar to how you would clock in and out at work. When they're doing the driving and they're onduty they'll show up, maybe have an automated ad that shows up for a cab co. if there's taxi drivers on duty so people know they can call for one.

 

As for income, as of right now I haven't really seen any incentive to play a cab driver over anything else. An increase of income for actively doing the job would be a smart move I think, perhaps getting a bonus from the script for getting a fare and successfully taking them to a destination? Like a mechanic can charge 500 or however much they charge for labor to do work, + they get their weekly pay or however the shop owner decides to pay their workers etc. I think maybe the taxi driver should get it from the script however, because a player having to pay it will just make people have naturally less incentive to call a taxi (for whatever reasons good or bad) and that would just render the job useless again. I don't know how the taxi system currently works but maybe like.. make an automated system that charges people like 100-200 a ride and gives the driver an extra 100-200 ontop of it (i.e they'd get 400 for a 200 ride, that kinda thing) or maybe even more, I don't really know how many people call for taxis so I can't really give a proper opinion on where I think the profits should be.

 

The only ads for cabs and what not made by players should be done by people actually roleplaying their own company (just like a garage gets to make ads) imo. 

 

As a successful taxi company (click me) owner I have to comment on this. We spend a lot of money on company advertisements everyday because that's what reminds the players they can call a taxi. People are starting to use our service more often but there still is a necessety to advertise every few minutes when there's drivers on duty.

Currently, the taxi driver job has a set wage of $800 per paycheck. Personally, I think this is all right but your idea that drivers should get paid per taxi request they accept is not too dumb either, but the problem is that there is no way to determine the start point and end point of the ride, and plus people could farm this endless money source with friends and spam rides to get loads of cash, so scrap that idea. We earn about 100 to 300 per ride, many times more because people tip us. Money is not an issue except when it comes to advertising and promoting our service in-game.

 

>> The only thing that I would like to see change on the taxi script would be indeed the addition of automated advertisements when we go on duty/are available. This is a thing in some SAMP servers and is very efficient. The way it should be implemented is it should air an advertisement each type you type /taxiduty and should have a delay to prevent several taxi drivers spam it at the same time, just like the general advertisement system. It should air something like this:
[Taxi Co] A taxi driver is now on duty! Call 910 if you need a taxi.

I've seen other servers openly display the taxi driver's name in the advertisement but I believe that's unnecessary and quite unrealistic if you ask me. Sure you can argue that these advertisements are not realistic because in real life these wouldn't appear anywhere but, believe me, we can't have 100% realism as there can't be taxi drivers on duty 24 hours a day so it's handy to know when they are available.

[hectic]

I tried being a taxi driver and the rental costs more than you make most the time

I feel a taxi license and $100 rental is probably sufficient

if you make ads on top of it it just costs you a bomb.

maybe when a taxi is on duty, i could automatically announce it via /ad every 30 minutes or so, so people know?

Edited October 31, 2018 by hectic

[Guest]

Finally

 

 

We have been talking about this for ages. Another thing is "/ad Selling 10 bottles of vodka" - not very realistic.

[Lloydski]

Just to clarify, you can see how many taxi drivers are currently available by doing /onduty.

 

I honestly think Ubers should be banned, simply because it completely circumvents the taxi system. If people want to be driven around in a non-taxi then hire a chauffeur through a company that advertises it *cough* CK *cough*. 

 

As mentioned before, money isn't really an issue it's actually getting fares that is. I spend around 80% of my time waiting for fares and that's only when I'm the only one on duty. Then I see ads for uber and it just annoys me because I've put all this time and effort into getting a licence and working the job just to have someone who feels bored in a (normally much better) car to steal business.

 

That being said, I think there should be some workaround for when there are 0 taxi drivers /onduty.

[hectic]

16 minutes ago, Lloydski said:

Just to clarify, you can see how many taxi drivers are currently available by doing /onduty.

 

I honestly think Ubers should be banned, simply because it completely circumvents the taxi system. If people want to be driven around in a non-taxi then hire a chauffeur through a company that advertises it *cough* CK *cough*. 

 

As mentioned before, money isn't really an issue it's actually getting fares that is. I spend around 80% of my time waiting for fares and that's only when I'm the only one on duty. Then I see ads for uber and it just annoys me because I've put all this time and effort into getting a licence and working the job just to have someone who feels bored in a (normally much better) car to steal business.

 

That being said, I think there should be some workaround for when there are 0 taxi drivers /onduty.

Maybe make unlicensed taxis illegal? that would solve that problem pretty fast

[AmarnaDuvall]

As stated above and one thing that gets on my nerves, as a founder of a cab co myself, we spend countless hours creating, managing, and organizing transportation services. We put up websites, advertise, promote, and represent constantly in order to create a realistic and efficient service for those who need it. And then when all is said, even after people know we are there, they still choose to go the uber route. Uber takes "zero" effort. Make the ad...sit and wait. And people bite, every time. 

My take is this, if there is going to be a separate transport service, that should also come with a seperate hotline. Call 000 for a chauffer etc. BUT, and I say but. Let this only be in place when their are minimal taxis on duty. Say 1. Because to be fair, it's also completely unrealistic to have Zero options to get around. In reality there would always be someone able to pick you up. Or even the bus if all else fails. You get the idea. 

As for money I really have not had too much of a problem with this. I do think a percentage should go back to the actual company (if the driver works for one), just to add a depth of immersion as most companies would irl. But again this is optional and not something that must be pushed.

[Smilesville]

I don't see the issue with ads looking for a ride; there are hardly ever any players running a taxi, and given the limited scope of the scripts on the server, it doesn't particularly bother me that they are engaging with other players in this fashion. Their alternative is to call 910 and hope a taxi is online - and during the off-hours it's more likely that they will be able to walk from Paleto to Vespucci before actually finding a taxi.

 

I think we're on to something that there are issues surrounding taxis - and it's not the fact that an Uber can undercut them.

• The taxi meter refuses to work; this means taxi drivers can't set a reasonable fare.
• The taxi cannot be modified at a mechanic's, so there's even less incentive to buy it than other vehicles.
• Trying to engage in a conversation while driving is a unique challenge. Most players have been gracious in this regard, but some prefer to arrive quicker - and at that point, you're essentially an NPC.
• The taxi job itself is terrible.
  • It requires a hefty investment at $5,000 for the license to even begin renting taxis, or that plus the $30,000 to buy your own.
  • Renting a taxi is not economical; you'll spend money on renting quicker than you'll make it.
  • Buying a taxi is even worse - it means unless you stick with it and pick up 30 fares for $1,000 each, the investment is a loss.
  • In a world replete with bored souls, it's not difficult to find someone to drive you for free, making fares even more difficult to extract.

Compared to the lucrative nature of other work, it's no wonder taxi drivers are scarce. Metallurgists can sell lockpicks for a hefty profit, and Mechanics are common for obvious reasons. The Weazel, PD, and FD factions far outpace even those due to the absolutely ridiculous paycheck bumps - making upwards of $2,000 in a single hour doing nothing where a taxi driver is lucky to get a fare per hour (and won't make near as much.)

 

Find a way to make taxi driving more lucrative, and you'll have your drivers - and more drivers means more coverage, which means more customers as they realize that taxis are a reliable form of transportation.

 

The only solution I can come up with right now is a script cash bonus for every fare a taxi completes, but that's inelegant at best.