Catapult Chaos Theory

Newcastle Herald

Monday June 30, 2008

Jeff Corbett

FIVE weeks ago I called a cab to take me to work when my car's battery expired, and I lent on the veranda railing to wait the five or 10 minutes for the taxi's arrival.

I was about to saddle up the treadly when it arrived 30 minutes later, and the driver was full of apology. It was the new computer system, and he gestured at it in disgust; he'd had to drive to the depot to get my address.

Two days previously, on the Saturday, I'd read in this paper a report that patrons had been kept waiting up to 90 minutes for a taxi because of flaws in a new computerised booking system introduced that week by the multinational firm that bought Newcastle Taxis in March last year, Cabcharge.

Two taxi owners who spoke to The Herald for that report, and who had taken their cars off the road because of failings in the new system, told of booked jobs issued more than 90 minutes after they were due, of chaos, of abuse.

On the Monday, the day I waited for the taxi, Cabcharge was in The Herald's news columns assuring all that the breakdowns reported on Saturday were just teething problems to be expected and that the new GPS-linked system, called Catapult, was off to a successful start. Another owner spoke in the report of his disgust and how one of his long-time drivers had quit in despair.

The spokeswoman relaying Cabcharge's reassurances that only a handful of almost 500 drivers had reported problems was a woman from whom we were going to hear much more of the same over the next few weeks, Tracey Cain.

On Thursday we reported taxi owners and drivers complaining of income losses of up to $2000, cars taken off the road, customers waiting 90 minutes, more than one car dispatched to one job, no cars dispatched to a job, bookings issued after the event. And in the same report we had Tracey Cain relaying Cabcharge's message that the Catapult system had no problems outstanding from its trials weeks earlier, that feedback had been mainly positive, that any problems had been peculiar to particular cabs.

The next day a letter writer told our readers how she'd waited 2 1/2 hours for a cab, and Tracey Cain was there again telling us that the new system was performing much better than the former system. There had been, she conceded, unexpected gremlins but the bigger issues had been confined to certain vehicles.

At The Herald we were hearing a very different story from that issued by Cabcharge through its spokeswoman. The next day, a Saturday, we reported how special-needs students had been left waiting hours for booked taxis to take them home from school, with delays on almost all the previous eight school days. Ms Cain said it was due to gremlins in just "a few cabs".

On the Monday taxi owners described in in this paper how the system had crashed on Saturday between 11.30pm and 4am, and Ms Cain assured readers that the system had not been down, that Catapult had had only teething problems with individual cabs.

And so it continued for another three weeks. Cabbies desperately unhappy, owners and Sydney taxi operator Lime Taxis talking about providing an alternative to Cabcharge's monopoly in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, Lime opts out suddenly, Cabcharge through its Tracey Cain assuring us that all is reasonably well in our taxi service. Two weeks ago Cabcharge Australia's chief executive, Fred Lakubyo, did visit Newcastle to admit to taxi owners something they already knew, that the problem was more serious than a difficulty confined to a few cabs.

Where did that leave Cabcharge spokeswoman Tracey Cain!

Late last week I asked Ms Cain to explain a daughter's failed taxi booking. On Wednesday my eldest daughter booked a taxi to take her to Newcastle Airport at 5am on Thursday. At 5.08 it hadn't arrived and my daughter phoned. It should have been there, the operator said, and she'd send another, which did come quickly.

Later Ms Cain told me a cab had accepted the original booking for the $60 fare but, as we know, not turned up. Nothing to do with Catapult.

Blog with Jeff @ www.theherald.com.au

What's your take on the tale of Newcastle's tardy taxis?

jcorbett@theherald.com.au

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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