The taxi industry is looking at a range of initiatives to improve service for customers, ranging from training drivers as tour guides to adopting larger vehicles. One program already proving popular gives priority to pregnant women entering labor.

The pioneering pregnancy-priority dispatch service by Tokyo taxi company Nihon Kotsu Co. has caught on in the capital, with half of all taxis now offering similar schemes.

"Half of pregnant women in Tokyo are registered with us for the service," Nihon Kotsu President Ichiro Kawanabe said. "They probably feel assured, especially under tough weather conditions such as heavy snow, because we dispatch cabs to them before anybody else."