Bing Maps' Taxi Fare Calculator keeps your lollygagging cab driver in check
By Darren Murph 
posted August 3rd 2010 2:44PM
posted August 3rd 2010 2:44PM
posted August 3rd 2010 2:44PM
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Google Maps 5.0 - get on it Google!
@Evan
Now i can print this and gave to taxi driver.
@Evan
this isnt for mobile devices. so..... good idea but not too useful at this point. we live in a mobile world now.
@techlord : and get smacked in the jaw!
@tricheboars Who said Google shouldn't make it for mobile, just because an add-in that MS didn't create is only for desktop doesn't mean anything to the context of the comment. Additionally, if you are traveling, perhaps you are in a country where your phone is expensive or not able to use the right network anyways, so this has plenty of uses including just the hole *inconvenient* way of printing off something from home/work.
Don't be so overly dismissive, just to be dismissive.
@tricheboars
are you kidding me? do you think MS would work on a feature like this and only keep it on their desktop browsers? Or the bing street slide (though this has admittedly been demo'd already on the iphone). Street slide, and Taxi Fare will surely be on bing maps in the near future on wp7. it'd be huge selling point for people that live in cities. now if they would only add public transit, then i'd be fully ready to make the switch from google maps to bing maps. they already added bing turn by turn navi on the windows mobile version, so thats already a plus over my google alternative.
@techlord Well i can't because it just told me that i should pay €6689,56 (sumthin like 8000$) for a 10,78 km distance in Berlin. I hope the taxi drivers don't use Bing Maps, otherwise I'm ruined!
@tricheboars
yeah instead i'll keep using google maps at home, or my phones gps
@simbadogg
except it already exist and can be used in all cities already... its called your phones gps.. bing just made something that already existed
@ok old news again
Probably because of the seamless android integration...stupid troll.
@SirDubs
you obviously have no idea what i'm talking about. remember that little thing called google navigation? remember, this thing
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/google-navigation-video-hands-on-you-want-this/
that had a little effect on garmin and tomtom stock when it was announced
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/the-game-has-changed/
well...there's a huge difference between the google maps application on devices running 1.5 or 1.6 and the google navigation on 2.0+. one just shows you which streets to turn on. The other tells you street names, and says ''in 400 ft, turn left on Sepulveda Blvd". That's a huge difference. And this is what MS added to their recent Bing maps app.
But this is besides the point, what i was asking for in the next bing maps is public transit. As in, how to get from point A to point B using metros, trains, subways, and buses. U know...public transportation.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/transit/#mdy
@simbadogg
yeah my gps ask me if i'm walking or driving etc, whats your point. o wait you didn't have one
@SirDubs
okay...do u have the bing app? does it have public transit? okay...thats the point, are you dense? unless you have google maps, there's no other gps or map app out there that i know of that has public transit. and u can sure as hell bet tomtom and garmin doesn't. that is my point.
MS Win
I am starting to believe bing is actually pretty good. BRB googling it.
@ok old news again
Whoosh!
They better patent this, you know how's google lately
@arash Except sites already do this. With Google Maps.
@Wezzuz Well its bing maps, no one done it with bing maps,haha. but youree rite they cant's patent it
This is actually pretty cool.
That's one obese slob who needs a cab from Heinz Field to PNC Park...
@Futureman You don't know what the circumstances are! Maybe they're so drunk they can't walk straight to get to their car and drive home...
Oh wait...
Hopefully Google steps up soon.
Ahh, competition: she is a beauty.
@tikigawd
why would they need to step it up????? google maps (which can use your phones gps) already existed for years now??? or just use any other form of phone gps. and google has every city already... bing invented something that already existed. way to step it up bing...
@SirDubs
Oh my God, why can't you admit that MS included a good feature here? Jesus! Google doesn't have cab fare calculation. They should step up and add that. Simple
I like Google just fine, but what's wrong with having more features? I own a freaking Droid and use the GPS all the time. Having cab fare calcs on my Droid would be awesome, and it's not there right now.
Stop being such a fanboy. Chillaxx
@tikigawd
cab fare calculator, which makes it more pointless then if it is what you are saying is so coll (and that is what you are saying), because do u seriously think that if a cabbie takes you from point a to point b in the straightest line possible and his fare doesn't match yours ... and you think any cab would give a damn what your phone says... this is just going by what you say is the "great" feature.. to make sure the cabs fare meter is ticking correctly.
do read what you even write or just write it?
@SirDubs
I guess your intellect is too advanced to fathom the possibility of using this feature to estimate how much a cab ride would cost you, not to argue with a cabbie about the cost of a ride.
It is, after all, an estimator.
I'm sorry, you're right. You're awesome, and have a big schlong. Yay, you win.
Wow, Microsoft is innovating like crazy. WP7, Bing (that even google copies now), Xbox Kinect, Street Slide, and now taxi fare calculator. Who woulda thunk it?
@elbarto83 The taxi calculator isn't made by Bing, it was the winner of the King of Bing maps contest to get the best third party map apps to be included in bing maps.
@Omen
Ah, thanks for the correction!
i wonder if i can dispute my taxi fare if bing showed a lower price....... muhaha
@inspiron41
I'd use it more to make sure the cabbie isn't taking you along the scenic route.
@tikigawd
oooo wait genius you posted to me , and i quote "Google doesn't have cab fare calculation. They should step up and add that. Simple"
now you say , its to make sure he doesn't take you a long way... which is it, cause you can't argue that his meter is ticking to fast cause you phone said it would be cheaper for the same trip from point a to b. and if you are now saying that its more for the right route... then i was right, this as already existed for year ... i'd rather be a "fanboy" than a hypocrite... hypocrite
- That'll be $14.65
- But Bing said it would be $9.50?!
- Who the hell is Bing?!
But this does look cool, as a rough estimate. I await sponsorship by local cab firms.
@d0mth0ma5
LOS LINKS!!!!!
Does it tie in with GPS? Uh-uhhh, don't even THINK about taking that wrong turn.
@blokeyhighlander
Yeah, but we'll get stuck in traffic if we don't take this route. Your choice, decide quickly, turn is coming up, right now...
like that's gonna work, they'll tell to get out of the cab in a sec
They also changed their map colors.
@N900
Nice. Thanks for the update. I'm actually really happy about this new look. I hated the way the old map was rendered with hideous bold and dotted lines for borders in that horrible yellow. This is much more pleasing to the eye.
how you view the tax fare? i don't find any button in the bing map now.
I can't wait for the first lawsuit using this as a defense for not paying a taxi driver.
It's a neat addition to Bing but Silverlight... blehhhhh.
www.taxime.ca is where it's at for cab estimations.
Who would pay $3 to walk from heinz field to PNC park?
@drewmcd621 EDIT: to take a cab
I was in New Orleans recently and used google maps to prevent a cab driver from ripping me off.
@ironlung I meant google maps on my phone
@ironlung
finally someone who understands that this technology already existed and is in every city as oppose to a few.
@SirDubs
Sorry but from all your comments it seems you are the one that doesn't understand the new feature mentioned in the article.
Yes, find directions technology has been around for years, Bing mobile with maps, local business, traffic and directions has been around since 2006 (called Windows Live Search back then) and is available for WinMo, BlackBerry and iPhone as well as Java phones offering the same things as Google maps.
And just like Google Maps for Android offers free turn by turn navigation so does Bing for WinMo
Now, the new feature mentioned in the article. Its a "Taxi Fare Calculator". You enter where you want to go and it takes into account initial charge, charge per mile, waiting time and gives you a route and a price estimate. Its not a groundbreaking feature IMO but its a useful one to have.
@ChrisSsk
o i read.
so then all that talk about how the cabbie would take you a long way etc, or heavily congested way, therefor costing you more , that meant nothing. this app is to make sure the cabbie's own fare calculator isn't broken? which makes it more pointless then if it is what you are saying, because do u seriously think that if a cabbie takes you from point a to point b in the straightest line possible and his fare doesn't match yours ... and you think any cab would give a damn what your phone says... this is just going by what you say is the "great" feature.. to make sure the cabs fare meter is ticking correctly.
do read what you even write or just write it?