So far 2010 has got off to a slow start for the travelling public. The icy weather and messages of "…don’t travel unless you have to" hasn’t helped the Taxi Trade and similar to many areas around the country the Midlands has been badly hit.At Birmingham International Airport every black cab on the rank is able to accept credit and debit cards and is equipped with a CabCard mobile terminal to take Chip & PIN card payments, but with the bad weather chins were down and good fares hard to pick up.
When CabCard Services management team came to hear of this they quickly swung into action with a plan to lift the spirits of the down at heart drivers. John Trippaldella, CabCard’s taxi co-ordinator explained:
"99% of all drivers at the airport use our system, so we organised a simple 2 day scheme to encourage them to take a few additional payments by card. By meeting certain criteria they could earn themselves a free Barrier ticket. In addition any driver who simply took a card payment on either of the days was entered into a draw and we had a further five barrier tickets as prizes.
The lads really entered into the spirit of the promotion. It perked them up and we generated more card business. It really took some of the chill out of the 2 days we operated the scheme and essentially we also had a bit of fun."
CabCard Services is keen that all taxi drivers should be able to benefit from being able to take payment by card. Malcolm Jamieson at CabCard says:
"The travelling public and especially those on business like and expect the convenience of using their cards to pay for their taxi journeys. Taxi drivers who use CabCard’s secure way of providing this facility can ensure they don’t miss out on some very lucrative fares.
Full fares and tips are paid each week directly to an individual drivers own Bank account. We manage everything right down to the supply of our approved ‘Chip, PIN & Go’ signage and it is this sort of thing that sets our drivers apart from the others who don’t offer card convenience for their passengers.
We would like to thank the drivers at Birmingham Airport who continually prove the point that taking payment by card is here to stay."
Birmingham airport driver Paul summed up saying:
"It pays off, sometimes you think you would prefer the cash but I have found I can get longer journeys and better tips from passengers if they can pay by card. l think it is always worth asking them if they would you like to pay by card at the beginning of the trip, that way they are not worrying about how much the fare will be and whether they will have enough cash."
CabCard Services provides low cost solutions for ‘in vehicle’ mobile credit and debit card acceptance and bespoke information capture for individual drivers and taxi fleets. For more information contact: CabCard Services call 0845 491 8410 or visit the website www.paycabs.com
