Taxi Drivers & Taxi Ads

[Fernando]

 

33 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

• 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.

Allow me to disagree with a lot that you said.

 

• Taxi meter doesn't work you are right, I hope they fix it. However taxi drivers don't have any problem asking for a reasonable fare. You just have to ask for an amount that fits in the server economy.

• Taxis can be modified at mechanic garages. I don't know who told you they can't.

• Of course for some it's hard to type while driving but no, this is a fair challenge. With experience you get to know the right moments to interact with the customer and I don't see this as a problem. We aren't NPCs. You can always say ask how's the customer's day going and that'll indicate whether they want to chat or not. It's not very hard.

• The taxi job doesn't require the $5,000 license, it's optional. I've tested, you can get the job without the license. Renting a taxi is really inconvenient, I agree. However, you don't need to buy a taxi. There happens to exist a company that provides free taxis to their drivers, making so you don't have to invest to get started in the job. Also, I don't know why you're saying fares are difficult to extract but it sounds like you've never tried it, because it's really easy. Sure people can give you a ride for free but with the increase of available taxi drivers, it's so much easier to call and wait a minute or so for a driver to pick you up.

The goal of my company is to provide those who want to be taxi drivers but don't want to invest, so there is a rise in popularity of this job, and there will be more drivers out there in the future.

The simplest solution is to get more taxi drivers, and that's exactly what my company is striving to achieve and we are succeeding. More coverage, more availability and less uber ads.

If you were aware of the existence of this company you wouldn't have said what you did. You were so negative in your post, it annoys me how ignorant people can be of the progress that is currently happening, especially in the taxi industry.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Fernando

[Fernando]

3 hours ago, hectic said:

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?

You said it well, maybe reducing the price of the rental taxi is a solution, but imo the whole rental system needs a revamp

But yeah taxi ads would be a neat feature, but rather with a command that the taxi driver triggers, with a spam prevention delay, not auto ad every 30mins

__

Anyways I've had this thread for a long time now, just updated it: 

 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Fernando

[Nervous]

I'm locking this, the next script for taxi will improve this issue.