SINGAPORE - Commuters who cannot find a cab could soon be pointed to places where they are more likely to find one, using a new app being

developed by researchers in Singapore. The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) has gathered historical data on taxis on the

road, with information such as time, place, speed and whether they were occupied. Using powerful data analysis tools, it managed to devise a

predictive application that tells passengers where they are most likely to find empty cabs and where cabbies are most likely to find fares.

Researchers at A*Star's Institute for Infocomm Research said the app can be uploaded to phones and other mobile devices.

Dr Shonali Krishnaswamy, acting head of the institute's data analytics department, said the app can even tell train commuters where to get off so

that they will have the highest chance of finding a taxi. She said: "Very often, it's not that there are no cabs but they are not where you need one."

Dr Shonali told of her own struggles to find one from her home in Lorong Chuan. She said: "I had a hard time. Even when I call for a cab, the cab

dispatch system will tell me there is none available. But later, I found out that just a couple of hundred metres down the road at the New Tech Park,

there was a steady stream of taxis dropping off people."

The app Dr Shonali and her colleague, Dr Wu Wei, have been working on for the past year aims to solve such problems, by helping cabbies and

commuters "find" each other. Their research model was created using data from a leading taxi company collected over two months during 2008.

While Dr Shonali added that a broader, updated database would help them to create an improved version, she said the basis of their model remains

sound. National University of Singapore transport economist Anthony Chin reckons that such a system would cut down on empty cruising by cabbies

and the time wasted by commuters as they search for a ride. "We need to close the mobility info gap... by giving info at the right time, right place,"

Professor Chin said. "Then we can better match supply with demand. "Otherwise, all the institutional changes we make will not be able to solve the

(taxi availability) problem," he added. But taxi companies are not exactly thrilled by the prospect of a scheme that potentially bypasses their own

dispatch system. They were not available for comment. Commuters have welcomed the idea. Lawyer Bryan Tan, 42, who relies largely on taxis to

travel to and from work, described the A*Star scheme as "interesting". He said that although getting a cab is easier today than a few years ago,

"it is still not as easy as in Hong Kong".

christan@sph.com.sg