Cabvision are a major credit card payment providers in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

having originally started as a digital screen network operating exclusively in Licensed Taxis. Cabvision Limited was sold in 2010 and now forms part of Cabvision Network Ltd which designs, fits and operates payment systems in Licensed Taxis. The company is an "Approved Supplier" of

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Payment devices

Cabvision Network are the only TfL approved supplier to offer both an integrated with fare meter system and a Mobile Point of Sale system for London that is installed in the taxi. Hardware from Ingencio forms the original offer and the Miura M10 is the "CabPay" system that works via the drivers mobile phone. Outside of London, the CabPay system does not need to be installed into the taxi and can be used independently. Cabvision has a choice of payment plans to suit a range of drivers, starting from 1.99 % + 10p per transaction. Payments are settled next day, 6 days per week.

Early history

Cabvision started in 2000 with the London Millennium golden taxis campaign. A thousand taxis were installed with Cabvision in central London. The creators of Cabvision are media and advertising executives Jonathan Marquis, a former senior advertising director of the

Dentsu , simply known as , stylized as dentsu, is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is the largest advertising agency in Japan and the fifth largest advertising agency network in ...

Group and Peter Da Costa, proprietor of KPM Taxis. Supported by a number of media and technology companies including

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, Trident Microsystems and Liquid Digital, The passenger was given several choices at the beginning of each journey and may select from a variety of channels or mute. Cabvision was created as an entertainment,

infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inform ...

and advertising system, narrowcasting to a captive ABC1 London audience. Advertisers using the system have included

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Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

and

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

Media screens

Cabvision was a digital information and advertising platform playing multiple channels. Channels were provided in recorded format segmented by commercial breaks. Know London was produced by Cabvision and was the default channel on the network. The Know London channel delivered live news, weather, sport, business and a selection of London centric short films. Cabvision stopped installing screens in London taxis in 2011. Taxi drivers were paid by Cabvision to run the system in their vehicles. The system was built into a PC located in the vehicle's

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

running the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

XP operating system. The unit is designed to be housed in the new-style TX1, TXII and

TX4 The TX4 is a purpose-built taxicab (hackney carriage) manufactured by The London Taxi Corporation, The London Taxi Company, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile of China. From 2007 until their liquidation in 2013 it was manufactured by LTI Limited, ...

hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common sight on t ...

s and connected to a

TFT LCD A thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) is a type of liquid-crystal display that uses thin-film transistor, thin-film-transistor technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active mat ...

screen between the fold-down passenger seats behind the driver. Viewing data was collected and sent to the supplier via

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's Global System for Mobile Communications, global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices wit ...

technology, emphasising the system's primary use as an advertising tool

Similar media systems

United Kingdom

A similar system to Cabvision was licensed to Cabtivate, which was installed in taxis in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Glasgow,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Birmingham and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. According to the company's website, the system updates remotely without pre-recorded DVDs or

video tape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasset ...

s. The driver has no control over the Cabtivate system and individual vehicles can be programmed for specific content. However, the company behind Cabtivate has since experienced financial difficulties and is unlikely to install any further units despite provisional approval from the

Public Carriage Office Taxicabs are available throughout the United Kingdom, and are regulated by local authorities. Types of cab * Hackney carriages (taxis) can be flagged down on the street or hired from a taxi rank. * Private hire vehicles ("minicabs") are pas ...

. Accordingly, Cabvision is currently the only system authorised by the PCO operating in London. Taxi TV is a more basic version of in-taxi TV installed in a number of taxis elsewhere in the United Kingdom, predominantly in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Cabcast is a UK-based firm which offers a 3 tier system, from the basic package up to an advanced system with a management suite. The company website places an emphasis on flexibility with customer add ons and development a major focus. The advanced package features a GPS tracking facility which allows for route tracing of each taxi while the system remains in use.

Worldwide

Similar units (such as MICE TV) have also been trialed in New York City, Rome and in parts of Canada with varying degrees of success'Purveyors of taxi TV see prime time in rush-hour traffic'
International Herald Tribune. 29 August 2005

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.cabvision.com www.cabpay.com Television organisations in the United Kingdom Taxis of London