ACE CARS: LEEDS’ FOREMOST PRIVATE HIRE SERVICE
cab’s latest software, Ghost. They have found it to be the most comprehensive booking and dispatch software for their company and, accompanied by the recent addition of the Minos, Autocab’s most fully featured data ter- minal in the vehicles, Ace Cars now has the most advanced system available anywhere.
This month we focus on one of the North of England’s largest transport hubs, Leeds. Catering for an increasingly large number of passengers in Leeds and the surrounding area, as they have for some 21 years, is Ace Cars, based in north Leeds.
ESSENTIAL
Director Mohammed Hanif has been at the helm for 17 of those years; he took over the firm when it had a fleet of 16 cars. These days the company is ever so slightly larger... with around 150 private hire vehicles on the fleet of all shapes and sizes: saloons, estates, MPVs, the lot. According to Mr Hanif, his fleet could be even larger but he’d “rather have quality than quantity”.
At any rate, things are busy enough at present with the company’s round the clock service including airport transfers covering all UK air- ports, school contracts, a courier service, and private hire journeys all over – and with the company based in north Leeds, they have a particularly good stronghold on that side of town. Ace Cars’ booking rate is running at an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 journeys per week, covered by 18 full and part time dispatchers and telephonists.
With Ace Cars being in such high demand and with a reputation to maintain, a computerised system was needed which matched their increasing workload at present, but that would also assist in further growth and expansion in the years to come.
As it happens, Ace Cars had been with GPC Autocab for some 15 years already, so for them the only logical choice was to upgrade to Auto-
Ghost is essential for the continuing growth of Ace Cars, helping them to retain and improve efficiency, monitor even more drivers and help them to achieve record job levels. This is because Ghost is the culmination of over 20 years’ experience within the taxi industry, and the combined industry knowledge gleaned from over thousands of installations. Within that time Autocab has developed an under- standing and ability to offer the most pioneering and inventive products and soft- ware on the market.
As for Minos, it is designed with the specific needs of a taxi driver in a high pressured envi- ronment; it improves driver efficiency and productivity. Mr Hanif, when asked about the combination of Ghost and Minos and how it will strengthen his position within the industry, said: “There are many innovative features with- in the Ghost system which make the operator’s job as simple as possible.
“The fully customisable booking fields, the pre- empted booking system which stores customers’ previous job history, and the fact that an operator can locate any driver instantly with the push of a button... It is clear to see that every aspect of this software has been designed to give the best possible, user friend- ly and efficient experience to anyone operating the system. I can fully recommend Ghost to anyone who is thinking of making a switch or upgrade.
“And the Minos is a terminal that is reliable, durable and straightforward, offering a user interface that is extremely easy and quick to use. The whole package is ideal for us. “As far as I am concerned, it is the Autocab system that has helped our company grow and maintain a stable business. Without that, I wouldn’t be here.” Incidentally, “here” in geographical terms refers to Ace Cars’ base office located at Leeds’ busy Meanwood Shopping Centre. So of course Ace Cars’ licensing authority is Leeds City Council. It follows that we ask the usual probing question: Any difficulties with your licensing authority?
Mr Hanif’s immediate reaction is one we don’t hear very often round the country: “They lis- ten.” Specifically what Mr Hanif is talking about here is that the council has maintained a trade forum for the purpose of exchanging ideas and
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highlighting any licensing issues with the council. In fact Mr Hanif has been in regular attendance at these forum meetings for some ten years, and stresses that for those trade members who turn up, the council listens. Following on from what looks to be a solid suc- cess story for Ace Cars in Leeds, to what – apart from Autocab Ghost and Minos - does the company owe this success? According to Mr Hanif, “There may be a lot of fancy words and phrases some people may come out with as an explanation... I believe that if you stick with honesty and hard work, that’s the only way it will happen.”
ACE CARS Licensed Private Hire
ACE CARS OF LEEDS
Address:
Telephone: Website:
2 Green Road, Leeds LS17 5AT
0113 230 4499
www.acecarsleeds.co.uk
Year firm started: c. 1990 Number of vehicles: 150
Types of vehicle: Private hire: saloon, estate, MPVs
Licensing authority: Leeds City Council Cost of:
Operator licence £300 Driver’s licence: £115 Vehicle licence: £115
Standard fares:
£2.50/1st mile, £1.50/mile thereafter
Booking system: Computerised – Autocab Ghost, Minos data terminals
Phone system: BT Radio system: Motorola
PHTM AUGUST 2011
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