Alaska Cab's Safe Ride.

• Author: MIDDLETON, SAUNDRA

This cab company has gone digital to protect its drivers and improve customer satisfaction.

Taxi drivers rank seventh in occupational fatalities nationwide with an estimated 40.3 deaths per 100,000 workers. Alaska's rate is even higher.

Seven of Alaska's estimated 380 cabbies lost their lives between 1992 and 1998-three in Anchorage alone in the spring of 1998, reports Talitha Lukshin at the Alaska Department of Labor.

According to Anchorage's Transportation Inspector, Dave Lewellen, those deaths spurred the Anchorage Assembly to require all cabs to install safety shields, infrared video cameras or a global positioning system locator by Dec. 15, 1999. Lewellen states that most of Anchorage's four major taxi companies chose Plexiglas(R) safety shields as the cheapest and seemingly best choice in deterring crime.

Dean Paul, owner of Alaska Cab and Handicap Dispatchers, was not among the majority who chose shields. Paul sought a way to make his investment go beyond just complying with city mandates. He hoped to improve company efficiency and customer service as well.

Yet Paul's $350,000 investment into the Digital Dispatch System was primarily to safeguard Alaska Cab drivers. DDS is a small, flat computer screen and keyboard (about the size of a stenographer's notepad) attached to the cab dashboard. It utilizes the 24 orbiting GPS satellites to track each taxi every minute of every day. If a driver feels threatened, a touch of a button sends help instantly. The cab's location is updated every seven seconds until police arrive.

Paul states that the DDS system can receive data farther away than with radio communication. This gives the drivers better chances of being able to call for help in areas where radios are out of range.

The GPS locator also helps improve company efficiency. The computer determines which driver is closest to the fare request by comparing each taxi location with the pickup address. The computer tags the closest driver. With a push of a button, a driver accepts the call.

Dispatching for...