Reference no: EM131940887

Task

Journal Entry. The Journal function in Interact2 must be used. External journal sites are not permitted. If your country geo-blocks Interact2 website or your circumstance prevents you from accessing the Internet (eg. due to a disability or if you are in a correctional centre), please contact your lecturer immediately. If it is an office/organisation firewall preventing access, you must find an alternative Internet access point to complete this task.

BidTaxi is a new taxi service that improves the ride-sharing service. Rather than working on pre-fixed rates based on distance and time, BidTaxi uses a bidding service for rides. A customer states the beginning and ending point of the journey, time and number of passengers. The system will then broadcast to the drivers who will then bid for the service within ten minutes. A comprehensive set of tools such as distance, route, estimated time, toll costs, etc. will be provided on the app to both parties. An estimated cost will even be provided. The customer will see in real time the responses by the drivers. And once selected, the cost is locked in. Payment will only be released to the driver-provider at the end of the journey as determined by Global Positioning System (GPS) location. The entire journey will be tracked.

To achieve this goal, it has embarked on the following:

1) BidTaxi requires all drivers to be certified, vehicle thoroughly checked for road worthiness and appropriate insurances paid.

2) The system will allow both customer and driver to rate each other and provide comments. A star-rating system will appear for both customer and driver next to their online verified IDs.

3) Customers without smartphones or tourists may use a web site to book ahead. Those without credit/debit cards may use Osko or purchase gift cards from supermarkets. Osko payments will be held by BidTaxi office.

4) To encourage service loyalty, each customer is given status points for rides paid. These points can be used as discounts for future trips, given as tips to drivers or can be donated to charity.

5) Driver-providers who complete a target of time and distance over a self-set period will be rewarded with fuel discount gift cards by the company.

Question 1 (1500 words)
Write a well presented report for the above outlining the business operation to the Ministry of Public Transportation. Provide any three recommendations that are well substantiated with journal literature and referenced correctly to support this service. (You may use the reasons/justifications above or use your own - that support this service).

Question 2 (500 words)
Provide any two suggestions into improving business service/operation offerings substantiated with current literature. These two items have not been mentioned above. An example could be driver training.

Presentation

After you "Create Journal Entry", please click "Post Entry"

You are given full editing rights even after you post - even the ability to delete that Post. It will also enable the lecturer/marker to provide you assistance prior to deadline.

If you "Save Entry as Draft", only you can see it and in the past, many students forget to click on "Post Entry" which means you have not submitted your assignment at all when the deadline has passed.

ALERT: Some students prefer to cut-and-paste from a word processor, and depending on their settings, this may cause formatting problems later.

Journal Presentation Formatting Requirements:
1. Journal space on Interact2 presentation text width between 85-95 characters including spaces.
2. Font types and sizes consistent (use Arial 12pt) throughout and paragraphs well formed.
3. Submit answers to all work in one single journal entry.
4. No attachments to journal entry allowed.
5. Avoid using dot points, bulleted points, numbered points in your work. Lists do not display your understanding of the subject matter and may even appear disjointed to the reader/marker.
6. Meet word limits in each question (allowance of +/- 5%). Table of contents are not required. Reference List is not included in the word count. (Failure to follow all the above rules, [eg. if you do not meet word limit for one question but meet for the others] this is considered as not meeting word limit for all: no partial mark allocated.)
7. Use either UK spelling or USA spelling but do not mix both.
8. All work presented should be carefully proofed, so that spelling and typographical errors are corrected.
9. All language used should not be sexist.
10. If acronyms and jargon are used, please explain them in the first instance, then use the abbreviated form in the rest of the report.
11. Appendices are not to be used.
12. Use of headings and sub-headings can be used for clarity.
13. It is important to get the balance right between the citing of referenced material and your own interpretation and ideas. When using your own thoughts and ideas, you can signal the reader by using words and phrases such as 'it can be argued that...", "it is evident that..." and "it seems as though..."
14. Writing in the third person is expected in all pieces of work.
15. Do not submit multiple copies (or versions) of your work. If you do, the marker will only pick the one with the lowest mark awarded. You have full editing rights, kindly remove all unnecessary material before date due.
16. All date/time mentioned and used is in Australian Eastern Standard Time (or Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time) or Sydney time.