| San Francisco Yellow Cab Announces Success of Unified Dispatch Taxi Booking System |
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San Francisco, CA (June 27, 2003)—San Francisco Yellow Cab Cooperative, one of North America's leading cab cooperatives, today announced the success achieved by the voice-driven automated taxi ordering system installed in January of this year. The system, provided by Unified Dispatch Incorporated, allows passengers to automatically book a taxi ride. |
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Passengers simply dial Yellow Cab’s regular telephone number (415-626-2345) and are provided with the choice of automatically reserving a ride or waiting for an agent. "Our automatic call taking system has improved service by reducing hold times and reducing the time a passenger takes to place an order. As of today, over 45% of our calls are handled automatically." Said Yellow Cab General Manager Hal Mellegard. |
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The Unified Dispatch UniBook system answers all calls on the second ring in a pleasant voice. The system has looked up the address based on the calling number and asks whether the caller would like to be picked up at that address now. If the answer is "yes", the cab is booked and the customer is given a confirmation number and an estimated time of arrival of the cab. If the answer is "no", the caller is transferred to a human operator. As the telephone number/address database is expanded, the system is able to handle more of the incoming calls. |
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"In addition to English, the system will recognize Spanish, and down the road, Cantonese as well" noted Nathan Dwiri, Yellow Cab President. |
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The UniBook Software Solution reduces expenses by handling increased call volumes due to peak periods or company growth without having to add additional call center agents. Previously abandoned calls are now captured, increasing trip counts and overall revenue for San Francisco Yellow Cab. |
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| "We are extremely pleased with the UniBook results at SF Yellow Cab. By reducing bottom-line expenses, increasing top-line revenue and improving customer service, we feel instrumental in improving the business process of San Francisco's operations and in the For-Hire Ground Transportation Industry." Said Ted Sichelman, CEO on Unified Dispatch Incorporated. |
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| About Unified Dispatch |
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Unified Dispatch provides products that target high volume quick transaction call centers in the ground transportation industry. Utilizing speech recognition technology and call center outsourcing, Unified Dispatch achieves short-term ROI for its clients - in some cases as short as 4 months. Beyond the massive cost savings, increased revenue, and improved customer service, Unified Dispatch has also developed proprietary interfaces into dispatch and phone systems, providing a unified approach to the client's dispatch and order taking needs. UDI's corporate offices are located at 2400 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, California 91001. For more information about UDI, please visit http://www.unified-dispatch.com/ or contact CFO, Dan Tamkin, at 626-296-6460 or by e-mail at dan@unified-dispatch.com |
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About San Francisco Yellow Cab Cooperative |
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Yellow Cab Cooperative serves the City of San Francisco and the San Francisco Airport with a fleet of late model Ford Crown Victoria cabs and Ford Windstar vans, all equipped with state-of-the-art mobile data terminals. All cabs accept major credit cards and our own Yellow Travel Card. |
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