LTA unveils advanced solutions to cut commuters’ taxi waiting time woes

Sensors will be installed in seven taxi stands.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today revealed that it is embarking on a one-year trial of a Taxi Information System (TIS) to better match taxi supply with demand.

Seven taxi stands have been selected for the trial. They are located at HarbourFront Centre, Hitachi Towers, Keck Seng Tower, Lucky Plaza, Ngee Ann City, OG People’s Park and VivoCity.

The TIS uses heat sensor technology to detect commuters waiting in the taxi queue in real-time. This is supported by intelligent camera technology that displays video footage for taxi drivers and commuters to view the queue status.

The average passenger waiting time at the taxi stands in this trial will be calculated based on the information collected, and transmitted to the taxi companies’ call centres.

The call centres can in turn broadcast the information to their drivers to encourage unhired taxis to call at those taxi stands with high demand.

In the initial stage of the trial, the system is configured to alert the taxi companies’ call centres automatically when there are 15 or more people in the queue, and when the average waiting time for a taxi is more than 15 minutes. This algorithm will be calibrated where necessary during the trial.

“For the convenience of commuters, real-time footage of the taxi passenger queue at these seven locations will be available online at MyTransport.SG (www.mytransport.sg) from today. The real-time footage can also be accessed on the MyTransport.SG mobile phone application. The updated application will be available for Android users at Google Play from today, while the update for iPhone users will be available later,” the LTA stated.