Taxi fare payment via SMS
Residents in Abu Dhabi, UAE will soon be able to pay for their taxi fare via SMS after plans for a new e-payment system were unveiled by Q-Link Transport, one of the largest taxi companies in city.
Passengers will be able to pay a taxi fare by purchasing a “Q-Cash card” from a number of outlets (petrol stations, supermarkets, taxi drivers).
After a taxi ride, customers follow the instructions on the card to pay the fare via SMS. You key in the taxi number and fare and send the SMS to the number on the card. A confirmation message is then sent to the customers mobile (along with their balance) and to an electronic device in the taxi, which will then print a receipt.
The free service hopes to avoid complaints that taxi drivers do not return loose change. Eventually there are plans to roll this out across all taxis in the Emirates.
Paying by SMS is great but whats the point of having to buy a card then paying? Just seems like complicated experience. Surely they could have taken this step out and charged the customers mobile bill with the taxi fare?
Also female customers in Abu Dhabi beware, according to this article, taxi drivers may ask you to help them find their ‘misplaced’ mobile phone by calling it so they can get your mobile number and stalk you.
Via Gulfnews
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Mobile Payment System, SMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
