Hello! This is Orsel Saito.
This is the story of the Tokyo branch of a certain taxi company.
Nowadays, it has become common to call a taxi using an app, especially in urban areas.
In the past, it was common to call a taxi company and have them dispatch a car.
In order to increase a taxi company's sales, the key is to increase the number of trips made.
How could you increase the number of rides you dispatched in the days before apps?
Considering only this information,
・Approaching to izakayas, snack bars, etc.
・Make sales calls to large companies and TV stations
Increase awareness through advertising expenses
- Display your phone number on the outside of the taxi and use the taxi itself as an advertisement.
I think you will come up with ideas such as:
But the actual answer is
"Changing taxi driver shifts"
It seems that was the case.
In the taxi industry, there has been an urban legend that has been believed for over 60 years: "The golden time is from evening to late night, and driver shifts must be concentrated during that time."
However, when we analyzed the ride-hailing data, we found that calls requesting rides were actually concentrated in urban areas, especially in the early morning hours.
Despite this, the taxi company's shifts were such that almost all of its taxis were off during the morning hours and were completely idle, so they had no choice but to turn down all requests for taxis.
Therefore, the solution to this problem was to schedule taxi shifts in the morning.
Of course, this solution was a fundamental overturn of what had been believed for a long time, so there was considerable opposition within the company, especially from taxi drivers, but as a result, the Tokyo branch was successful in significantly increasing the number of taxi dispatches.
Thinking takes effort, but it helps you avoid wasting energy on irrelevant things.
As in the case of the taxi company, there are many cases where what was thought to be a problem outside the company actually turned out to be an issue within the company.
What is your "urban legend"?
I think it's very important to learn how to think about business.
Learn from urban legends in the taxi industry
