The taxi authority will install digital TV screens in all cabs in the city, giving passengers information like digital maps and traffic situations once they are connected to a call center to be set up this year.

Three hundred of the city's 42,000 taxis already have the screens.

But so far they only display reminders to people not to forget their bags or to fasten the seatbelts.

"Although these digital TVs are confined to low-end reminder services, they will be upgraded to provide more useful interactive services when they're linked with the call center," said Qiu Zhenzheng, an official with Shanghai Taxi Administration Office.

Every taxi will eventually have two screens, one beside the instrument panel and the other set in the driver's seatback.

Passengers will be able to get information on fares, digital maps, real-time traffic situations, public transport and service venues.

The taxi authority hopes the citywide call center will help people find taxis more easily by calling a hot line in rush hours and make better use of taxis.

Only the five biggest of the city's 300-plus taxi companies have call centers.

The new center will be able to locate all the city's cabs and find the nearest vacant taxi for a passenger who calls.

(Shanghai Daily July 22, 2004)