UWE Bristol

Computer Science and Creative Technologies

Sustainable Tech Project Proposal

Ben Thomas, Will Mccombe, Alex Veale, Louie Baker

23rd September 2013

Introduction

The average cost of a taxi in Bristol from the city centre to campus is £25. this split between 6 people would be £4.16 each.

Although only 23% returning to campus are actually full.

This creates many problems such as:• Increase of taxi traffic in and around the Bristol city

centre by around 18% which could be reduced if every taxi were to be full which in turn increases unnecessary fuel consumption

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Problem definition and solution

Introduction

• Expensive taxi fares for students as they would have to pay a larger percentage of the fare if the taxi was not full.

• Long waiting times for students and taxi drivers.

As a team we have designed a mobile application specifically for UWE students staying on campus which solves all these problems in one place. This would be a great addition to the UWE mobile app!

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Problem definition and solution

UWE -TAXI

TOGETHER

User presses the taxi icon to enter the

application.

Screen display when the app is opened

ENTER

Student Interface

UWE –TAXI TOGETHER

Select campus…

how many people?

SEARCH

Users will be able to select any one of the

UWE campus’ of which they are hoping to go using a drop down.

Users will also be able to enter the amount of people they are with

currently to determine how many others they will be able to share a taxi with selected from

a drop down.

They then search using the taxi icon to

match them with other people heading the same place with an

amount of people to fit in a taxi.

youTaxi

share

The red dot on the map indicates the

location of your taxi share.

Your location will be displayed on the map

with an arrow indicating the direction

of your taxi share

Once you are in close proximity of your taxi share your phone’s light will omit a repetitive flashing light so you can easily see who you are aiming to meet with.

UWE –TAXI TOGETHER

TAXI ON IT’S WAY!

This will display the number plate of the taxi that is coming to collect the user and

their group

PLEASE WAIT AT TAXI RANK FOR

COLLECTIONSee on map

Once their taxi has been allocated they

will be able to see the taxi rank that they are to gather at for their

fare. This will be indicated on the a

GPS map when they click ‘see on map’

UWE –TAXI TOGETHER

People : 5 people

-> : Frenchay Campus

Location: *Postcode from GPS*ASSIGN

In terms of the view for the taxi driver they will be able to see relevant

fares for them with where they are

heading, the number of people in the group and location, they then assign to themselves.

Taxi Driver Interface

Sustainability benefits - Social

9Sources:

• Can travel home safely with friends or other students living on campus

• If you lose your friends you can still get a taxi back to campus without having to pay the full fare on your own

• Safety benefits of being in a group as opposed to being alone

Sustainability benefits – Economic

10Sources:

• Cheaper fares for students

• Less waiting around for taxi drivers making their night more efficient, always having fares to take.

• More direct journey’s as everyone will be heading to the same destination

Sustainability benefits - Environment

11Sources:

• Less unnecessary fuel consumption as all taxi’s are full and heading to the same location

• Less traffic in and around the Bristol city centre and with it less noise pollution.

ReferencesPrimary research:

Observered empty taxi’s when arriving at Frenchay campus and calculated statistics.

Spoke to taxi drivers for the average fare price.

Secondary research:

http://www.mpg-calculator.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/bristol

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