Appointment
I was a University of Nebraska at Kearney study abroad student in Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland from January 2014 to May 2014. Spiddal is a village located about 15 miles away from the City of Galway, which is located on the west coast of Ireland. The UNK study abroad students could not rent a car so we had to contact a taxi service in order to travel back and forth between towns. Many of us had never used a taxi service in the past and had to quickly learn how to use the service. Jane Marie, the hotel owner, advised the group of study abroad students to call a gentleman, Rory, at Big O Taxi because he had a special €10 deal to travel to Galway for the study abroad students. On a rainy Thursday evening, the …show more content…
Rory ended up being the driver and was a polite, older man. As his shift was over for the evening, he picked us up in his personal vehicle. This was a very kind thing for him to do and not out of the ordinary as Rory worked with the study abroad students in the previous years. However, the van was not equipped with proper taxi equipment. Many of us had never been in a taxi before and had never seen how a taxi calculated the price per minute. After the twenty minute drive, Rory dropped us off at Eyre Square in Galway and we paid him the €10 fee. We split the price and paid the gentleman. Since Rory was done with his shift for the evening so we informed Rory that we needed a pick-up taxi to get back to Spiddal at approximately 1:00AM from Eyre Square. He said he would call Big O Taxi and put in a …show more content…
The technology service used was telephone communication via a receptionist. The recommendations for improving the taxi service is an app and an automated texting system for ease of ordering and tracking all taxi drivers. Creating an app like Uber is a great way for Big O Taxi to innovate and use technological services to their advantage. Having a texting service would also cut down miscommunications via the taxi service and the individual ordering the taxi. I would use Big O Taxi Service in the future if I ever travel back to Ireland just because of being able to request personal