Taxi Driver Rework

[Crimson Nugget]

Discussion Post: https://perpheads.com/threads/taxi-driver-rework.33868/

Main Idea: Improve the taxi driver's accessibility and gameplay in order to make it more fun for everyone.

Full description of the idea:
Idea will be organized as goals in order to make it easier to read and eventually for staff to see what needs to be done individually.

[Idea 1] - Enable Taxi Driver for non-VIP.
REASONING: If you have VIP you probably have better options like better pay on other jobs, craft more drugs. Being able to play taxi driver was never a selling point for VIP. Furthermore, I don't think not having VIP should limit entrance to a job anyway.

[Idea 2] - Enable direct bank payment.
REASONING: Nowadays a lot of taxi drivers take credit card payment or even upfront online payment for taxi-like services like Uber. A lot of players don't carry much money on them at all times, even less when recently spawning which is when you would need a taxi the most. Clients could still set a maximum for the amount they would be willing to pay just as you can with the current system.

[Idea 3] - Raise taxi driver slots to 2 or 3.
REASONING: What's the point of having an interesting job if only 1 player out of around 50 can have it. They can have competition just like any other job. Having its slots work like Roadcrew's would be nice, they're similar.

[Optional 1] - Replace the disabled parking spot in front of PD for a Taxi driver-only spot (except in the case of emergencies of course).
REASONING: No one cares about disabled symbols anyway. Taxi drivers would get a lot of business if they could be seen waiting directly from the spawn. This disabled spot sits at the perfect location. If you think this shouldn't sit at PD's parking lot, keep in mind emergency vehicles still override any priorities and that A LOT of people who are jailed come out at the PD front parking lot stranded since they were most likely detained in another location and jailed in PD, far away from their vehicles.



Why should it be added?: As described in the pros, since it will be non-VIP new players will have a new possibility which can bring even further the life in the server, as well as having a job that's actually played and not left to die for no reason. I'm of the belief that at least one slot of each job should be filled at all times. They can be very useful in situations where currently it's the police or roadcrew who gives taxi rides, for example in an accident in the middle of the highway. Also adding the bank payment will not bother clients with having to withdraw cash each time.

Pros:
+ Job is actually played and gets clients thanks to bank payment. This leads to more fun.
+ Since it will be non-VIP, it opens a new possibility for new players to earn some money too.
+ Less annoying stranded situations (i.e. if your car falls into the water at Hicktown, it should be a Taxi Driver giving you a lift, not a Roadcrew or a Police Officer)

Cons:
- If new players can play as taxi they can fuck up given they might not know the exact locations. However this is not a strong argument against the suggestion considering Paramedics can be played by anyone and require extensive map knowledge to do their job correctly.

*Other additions: -

*Images: -

 

[Kenty]

Just let any player with a car be able to be a Paralake Uber driver and balance out the pay and let them change they're rates.

All these new players in mini's could make some money from a Uber app.

No one uses taxis and Anyone that goes on duty as a taxi driver is either someone being a minge or want to cause another parliament bridge attack.

 

[Crimson Nugget]

Just let any player with a car be able to be a Paralake Uber driver and balance out the pay and let them change they're rates.

All these new players in mini's could make some money from a Uber app.

No one uses taxis and Anyone that goes on duty as a taxi driver is either someone being a minge or want to cause another parliament bridge attack.

Personally I would never use a mini cooper or similar car as a Uber considering the speed. I myself use taxi and I try my best not to minge. If you think your idea is better I don't know why you haven't posted it as a suggestion.

Currently anyone can pay you for a ride, if everyone can be an uber with an actual system for it it's going to be a crappy system where there's way too much competition for anyone to earn anything.

 

[Crimson Nugget]

also friendly reminder of this proposal in the past

looks nice

 

[Deleted member 5193]

No one uses taxis and Anyone that goes on duty as a taxi driver is either someone being a minge or want to cause another parliament bridge attack.

I quite regularly go taxi driver. It's not the most profitable of jobs but that suits me. It allows you to drive around and enjoy the server a bit whilst meeting new people and enjoying the driving.

Quite a lot of new players who will have just came into the server use the taxis, although I don't like charging them the fare for taking the taxi so I tend to refund the money they spent in the taxi.

Plus, if you're a taxi driver you're able to help the newer players learn where places are, and to them you're a sort of tour guide to the city.


I completely agree that the job itself isn't used as much as others, mainly because it isn't easy money so people don't do it. It's more of a job you do to pass the time, and I enjoy that.

[Optional 1] - Replace the disabled parking spot in front of PD for a Taxi driver-only spot (except in the case of emergencies of course).
REASONING: No one cares about disabled symbols anyway. Taxi drivers would get a lot of business if they could be seen waiting directly from the spawn. This disabled spot sits at the perfect location. If you think this shouldn't sit at PD's parking lot, keep in mind emergency vehicles still override any priorities and that A LOT of people who are jailed come out at the PD front parking lot stranded since they were most likely detained in another location and jailed in PD, far away from their vehicles.

True that no one really uses disabled bays for anything, but the arguement here is a little useless. As there's no way that the police can prosecute anyone who parks within them. Although the parking law doesn't strictly clarify if you can park in the spots, it is fairly common knowledge that PLPD cannot and hopefully will not deal with people who park within them, pretty much deeming them pointless.



I really like the idea of not having to have clients withdraw money every time they want to get a taxi. The times you need a taxi would usually suggest you're a little out of town and don't have anywhere to get cash for a taxi?? I like the idea of a bank transfer option, or just the ability to choose location from and location to in some sort of taxi app where it automatically calculates the amount you'll need to spend and then you can pay it via the app.

About your raising slots idea, me and @Gimic were chatting about this a few days ago. It is a job that isn't used enough, but we both said if two friends could go on the job and start doing jobs together then it could bring more people in. I think this would be a brilliant idea.

I don't see why the job is VIP only, this restricts our newer players from being able to explore the city and all it has to offer. Making it VIP only just really means it is only for those who have played for a while, have donated and probably found some decent way of earning money away from being a taxi driver. This really makes the job pretty useless unless someone decides to take the job and do it for a pretty low profit, which doesn't happen too often.


I can't say that people don't use the job, cause I've seen others alongside myself who are regularly taxi driver. I do, however, feel that changes should be made to make the taxi job more accessable, and make the way it works a lot easier.

I fully agree with your suggestions and I really hope something comes of this.

 

[Crimson Nugget]

I also want to point out something that came to my mind recently (and thus I didnt post it in the discussion thread): I think a lot of people get scared by the "+40$ per 100 meters" on the taxi fare. They think the money is going to be drained like mad.

So maybe another possibility would be for the taxi driver to decide his own fares with a limit of 1k (I don't think there's any path A to B that would take more than that) depending on the trip. This would also allow taxi drivers to give cheaper prices for sweaters for example.

 

[Moon The Goon]

would be funny to see taxi drivers be able to hold pistols and act more as civilians while being taxi drivers.

for example uber drivers, just regular people who make money from transporting people. They can commit crimes whilst they arent being called.

 

[Sam]

We will make changes to the taxi job in a future update