The Battle To Stay Green
Exhibitors from across Europe including Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen descended upon the European Taxi Show in Cologne recently, to tackle a range of topics and new legislation changes across the taxi industry.
Discussions focused heavily on new legislation requiring taxi drivers to install an approved meter and printer for customer receipts in their cars, which came into effect in Northern Ireland on October 1 and looks soon to be enforced in London in the very near future.
Other takeaways concerned the use, or as it were, non-use, of green taxis on our roads, as the industry seeks to grab an eco-foothold in the battle to remove our dependency on the oil industry. There have been numerous alternatives suggested over the years, and despite the widespread emergence of electric cars here in the UK (new registrations of plug-in cars increased from 3,500 in 2013 to almost 78,000 just last month), other European countries, including Germany, seem slow on the uptake. Out of the 45 million registered cars in Germany, only around 25,000 of them were electric motors at the start of the year.
But whilst an eco-propulsion in this sector is urgently needed, other areas of streamlined processing, such as contactless payment, have seen a major boost. Further research from MasterCard has shown that the British public now carry, on average, less than £5 in cash, highlighting the importance of having an mPOS system available to carry out transactions by card.
London’s black cabs now all accept contactless payment, with passengers able to use their MasterCard with no surcharges. With a minimum fare of just £2.60, usage looks to be on the ascendency. Contactless statistics provided by the UK Cards Association, has also shown a 192.8 per cent increase in overall contactless payments from August 2015, to August 2016.
Coupled with the recent changes in law requiring taxis to carry receipt printers, this growth goes hand-in-hand with the need for reliable, accurate and secure small printer solutions. In fact, recent research from YouGov has shown that 80 per cent of customers have cited security as a major concern when performing an mPOS transaction. Here at Able Systems,
our compact thermal printers, such as the Ap1310-DC, have been developed specifically to provide clear and legible receipts to meet current legislation requirements and consumer peace of mind. Furthermore, our small printers work wirelessly, perfect for on-the-go industries where physical charge points are limited or hard to come by.
Whilst as a society we are moving towards a world free from our dependency on paper, there will always be a need for printed confirmation, whether that be for auditing purposes, or as a simple ‘peace of mind’ check for consumers that still value evidence in the physical form. Portable, compact printers provide this solution in a quick and easy format, perfect for both vendors and consumers alike in the new digital age.