Shanghai taxi authority yesterday launched a short message service for its citywide call center, providing locals with easier access to book a cab.

The service allows people to send a short message of their detailed location via their mobile phones to the call center's SMS platform. 

The call center will then try to find the nearest free taxis and give the person a reply on whether it can dispatch a cab or not about 10 minutes later.

The Shanghai Taxi Administration Office said that the short message service will no doubt facilitate taxi booking for both passengers and call center staff alike.

(Shanghai Daily March 23, 2005)