Finding a taxi in Benidorm could become easier during busy summer days, holiday weekends and major events as the city begins testing a new system designed to show where passengers actually need cabs.
Benidorm has been chosen to test QIMOB para Taxi, an intelligent data platform that will analyse journeys, waiting times, taxi-rank activity and demand across the city.
Rather than relying solely on impressions of where taxis are needed, the pilot will use information collected from real journeys to build a clearer picture of what is happening across Benidorm at different times of day.
For passengers, the aim is straightforward: get more taxis to the places where people are waiting for them.
How will QIMOB work?
The system has three main parts.
Taxi drivers will use a professional app that records activity with minimal interaction from the driver.
Behind that sits an analysis system that examines routes and journey times, while a dashboard turns the information into maps, indicators and alerts.
Drivers will be able to check information about their own activity, including occupancy and previous activity at taxi ranks.
The system can also analyse activity by licence and driver, helping professionals decide where demand is building and where they may have a better chance of picking up passengers.
It effectively turns hundreds of individual taxi journeys into a live picture of how the city’s taxi service is working.
Benidorm has 232 taxi licences
Benidorm currently has 232 taxi licences, and the new platform will give the council and taxi associations an overall view of how that fleet is serving different parts of the city.
The system can identify demand around particular areas and taxi ranks, monitor waiting times and highlight ranks where passengers have little or no service.
It can also reveal the opposite problem, with several taxis waiting at a rank where there is little demand.
That could help drivers spread themselves more effectively rather than having cars queueing in one part of Benidorm while passengers wait elsewhere.
The platform will also provide information about the availability of adapted taxis and ECO vehicles.
Summer and Benidorm Fest could put it to the test
Benidorm’s taxi demand can change dramatically depending on the season and what is happening in the city.
A quiet weekday in November presents a very different challenge from an August evening.
Holiday weekends can produce sudden increases in visitors, while major events create intense demand in particular areas and at particular times.
The council says QIMOB could help the taxi sector plan extra coverage during those peaks.
Benidorm Fest is one obvious example.
If the data shows where demand builds before or after a major event, taxi associations and drivers can use that information to position available vehicles more effectively.
The same principle could apply during the summer season, busy bank-holiday weekends and other large events.
The system is not designed to track individual drivers
The data element inevitably raises a question: how much information will the council see about individual taxi drivers?
According to the project, not very much.
Each taxi professional will only have access to information about their own activity.
The council will instead see aggregated information and anonymised indicators covering the wider service.
The project says it will collect only the information it needs and protect people’s identities.
The stated purpose is to understand how the taxi network operates rather than provide the council with a tool for monitoring individual drivers.
That distinction will be important if the pilot is to win support from the people expected to use it.
Six measures will decide whether it works
The pilot will not simply be launched and declared a success.
Organisers plan to assess it using six indicators: coverage, waiting times, efficiency, adoption, data quality and its impact on emissions.
Those measurements should provide a clearer idea of whether using live operational data actually improves the taxi service.
If taxis spend less time driving around empty or waiting at ranks with little demand, there could also be an environmental benefit.
The more immediate test for passengers will be easier to understand.
Are taxis available where people need them, and are they arriving more quickly?
Drivers still make the decisions
Benidorm’s Mobility Councillor Francis Muñoz said the purpose of the trial is to replace assumptions with a clearer picture of what happens on the streets.
In a city where visitor numbers and travel patterns can change quickly, the council wants real data showing where demand appears and at what time.
But QIMOB will not automatically dispatch drivers around Benidorm.
Muñoz stressed that the technology will provide information while taxi drivers retain control over their own decisions.
That makes QIMOB more of a digital map of demand than a central command system.
A driver could see that one rank already has several taxis waiting while another part of the city has passengers but few available cars, then decide whether moving makes sense.
Why Benidorm is testing it
The Generalitat Valenciana describes taxis as an essential public service that needs to adapt to changing mobility habits.
Benidorm makes an interesting testing ground.
Its resident population is only part of the transport picture. Tourists, weekend visitors, major events and strong seasonal changes can quickly alter where and when people need taxis.
The city also has hotels, nightlife areas, beaches, transport connections and residential districts generating very different patterns of demand.
A system capable of making sense of those movements could give the taxi sector useful information that would be difficult to build from individual experience alone.
The important word, however, is pilot.
QIMOB still has to demonstrate that collecting and analysing the data produces a noticeable improvement on the street.
For passengers standing at a taxi rank, that will ultimately matter far more than the sophistication of the dashboard.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- The Generalitat Valenciana is testing its new QIMOB para Taxi data platform in Benidorm.
- The system will analyse real taxi activity, including demand, journey times, waiting times and activity at taxi ranks.
- Benidorm currently has 232 taxi licences.
- Drivers will be able to view information about their own activity and use demand data to help decide where to work.
- The council and taxi associations will receive aggregated and anonymised information rather than individual driver data.
- The platform can identify underserved ranks as well as locations where too many taxis are waiting for passengers.
- QIMOB will also monitor the availability of adapted taxis and ECO vehicles.
- The pilot will be assessed using six measures: coverage, waiting times, efficiency, adoption, data quality and emissions impact.
- The council hopes the information will help the sector prepare for summer peaks, holiday weekends and major events such as Benidorm Fest.
