Glossary
Taxi dispatch terms, explained plainly
59 words you will meet when buying or running dispatch software, each defined in a sentence or two, with a link to the TaxiDex page where the feature lives. Vendors use some of these differently; where a word is regional, it is marked.
Part 1
Bookings and dispatch
- Taxi dispatch
- Getting each booked or hailed trip to a driver and seeing it through to drop-off. It used to be done by radio from a base office; today software offers the job to a driver's phone, tracks the car and records the outcome. Taxi dispatch software
- Dispatch software (dispatch system)
- The system an operator uses to take bookings, allocate them to drivers, track vehicles, message passengers and settle money. Cloud systems run in a browser and in apps; on-premise systems run on a server in the office. Taxi dispatch system guide
- Dispatcher
- The person in the office who takes calls, creates jobs and decides which driver gets them. With automatic dispatch the software does the routine allocation and the dispatcher handles the exceptions: a late flight, a no-show, a driver who went offline. Dispatcher cost tool
- Job (booking)
- One trip request: pickup, destination, time, passenger, vehicle class and price, moving through statuses such as new, offered, accepted, en route, passenger on board and completed. Everything else in a dispatch system hangs off the job record. Taking a booking
- Pre-booking (advance booking)
- A job booked for a later time. The system holds it and releases it to drivers a set number of minutes before pickup. Recurring bookings are pre-bookings on a schedule, such as a daily school run. Recurring bookings
- ASAP job
- A job for right now. Dispatch offers it immediately to the nearest suitable available driver instead of holding it for a release time.
- Auto-dispatch (automatic dispatch)
- The software choosing a driver and offering the job without a dispatcher's hand, using rules such as distance or ETA, vehicle class, driver status and queue position. The dispatcher sees the decision and can override it. Automatic dispatch
- Dispatch rules
- The configurable policies behind auto-dispatch: nearest first or zone queue, how long a driver has to accept, who is offered the job next, which vehicle classes qualify, and when the office is alerted. Dispatch rules
- Job offer (timed offer)
- A job pushed to one driver's app for a limited number of seconds to accept. If the timer runs out or the driver declines, the offer moves to the next driver the rule chooses.
- Job board
- An open list of unassigned jobs that drivers can view and claim themselves, used alongside pushed offers or instead of them, often for pre-bookings. Job board
- Broadcast
- One message from the office to every driver, or to a group such as a zone or a vehicle class, delivered at the same moment through the driver app. Driver broadcasts
- Zones
- Areas the operator draws over the map. Zones drive zone-to-zone fares, driver queues, dispatch rules and reports, and they are the unit most UK operators think in. Zones
- PlottingUK
- A driver plots into a zone or onto a rank to join its queue for work. The word comes from radio dispatch, when the controller marked drivers on a wall map, and it survives in UK private hire.
- POB (passenger on board)
- The job status after pickup, until drop-off; clear or completed follows it. Status timestamps are what make waiting-time and no-show disputes resolvable.
- No-show
- The passenger does not appear at the pickup. Most operators wait a set time, record the attempt with its location and time, and charge a no-show fee to account customers and card bookings.
- Waiting time
- Time the driver waits at pickup or during the trip at the passenger's request, usually billed per minute after a free allowance written into the tariff.
- ETA
- Estimated time of arrival, calculated from the driver's position and the road network. It drives the dispatch decision, the passenger's notification and the dispatcher's view of what is running late.
- Live fleet map
- The real-time map of every vehicle's position and status: free, offered, en route, passenger on board, off shift. It is the dispatcher's main screen in a modern system. Live fleet map
- Timeline (audit trail)
- The record of every change to a job and who or what made it: created by the web booker, offered to one driver, declined, accepted by another, fare edited by the office. Essential for complaints and licensing inspections. Timeline
Part 2
Pricing and money
- Tariff
- The fare rules: a starting charge, a rate per mile or kilometre, a rate per minute, time-of-day or day-of-week bands, and extras such as airport pickups or luggage. A system can hold several tariffs for different vehicle classes and customers. Fares and tariffs
- Fixed fare vs metered fare
- A fixed fare is quoted before the trip from the planned route and does not change with traffic; a metered fare is calculated as the trip runs. App and web bookings are usually fixed; street-hailed taxis use meters.
- Zone-to-zone pricing
- A flat price between two defined zones regardless of the exact addresses, common for airport runs and account work because the customer knows the price in advance.
- Surge pricing (dynamic pricing)
- Raising fares when demand outruns the available cars. In operator software it is normally rule-based, with the operator setting the triggers, the multiplier and a cap, rather than an algorithm pricing freely. Surge pricing simulator
- Commission (commission plan)
- The share of each fare the fleet keeps from a self-employed driver, or the fixed weekly or monthly fee a driver pays instead, sometimes called settle or rent. A plan can differ by driver, vehicle class or job type. Commission plans
- Driver settlement
- The periodic reconciliation between fleet and driver: cash fares collected, card and account fares owed to the driver, commission, fuel or rent deductions, and the balance one side pays the other. Driver settlements
- Dead mileage
- Miles driven without a paying passenger: to the pickup, back from a drop-off, or repositioning to a busier zone. Reducing it is the main efficiency gain good dispatch offers. Dead mileage calculator
- Account customer (corporate account)
- A business billed monthly on invoice rather than paying per trip: hotels, offices, schools, clinics. Each job carries a reference or cost centre and may need approval before it is dispatched. Corporate accounts
- Account invoicing
- The monthly invoice run for account customers, listing every trip with its date, passenger, reference and price, exported as PDF or CSV for their accounts department. Finance
- Cancellation fee
- A charge when a passenger cancels after a driver has been dispatched or after a grace period, set in the tariff and applied automatically to card and account bookings.
- Per-driver, per-vehicle and per-trip pricing
- The three common ways dispatch software is billed: a monthly fee for each active driver, for each vehicle or licence, or a charge for each completed trip. The unit decides what a quiet month and a busy month cost. What dispatch software costs
- Setup (onboarding) fee
- A one-time charge for implementation, data migration, configuration and training. It ranges from nothing to five figures and is where quotes diverge most. Cost guide
Part 3
Vehicles, drivers and compliance
- Hackney carriage (taxi)UK
- A licensed taxi that may be hailed in the street and wait on ranks, with a meter and fares set by the licensing authority. In UK law, taxi means this vehicle.
- Private hire vehicle (PHV, minicab)UK
- A licensed vehicle that may only carry passengers who pre-booked through a licensed operator; it may not be hailed or use ranks. Minicab is the everyday word, PHV the regulatory one. Private hire software guide
- Operator licenceUK
- The licence a private hire business needs to accept bookings, issued by the local council or by Transport for London, with conditions on record-keeping, premises, and the drivers and vehicles used.
- Booking record
- The record a licensing authority can ask to see for each booking: who booked, when, pickup, destination, the driver and the vehicle. A dispatch system should produce it on demand. Booking records
- Vehicle class
- The category a vehicle belongs to, such as saloon, estate, MPV, executive or wheelchair-accessible, used to match jobs to suitable cars and to price them. Vehicle classes
- Shift
- The period a driver is logged on and available for work. Shift records feed hours, earnings, settlements and the working-time evidence some regulators ask for. Shifts and schedules
- Permits and documents
- Driver and vehicle licences, insurance and inspection certificates and permits, each with an expiry date the system tracks so an expired document blocks dispatch before it becomes an offence. Permits
- Fleet partner (subcontracting)
- Another operator that takes your overflow or covers an area you do not, under agreed terms. The job stays in your system; the partner's driver fulfils it. Fleet partners
- WAV (wheelchair-accessible vehicle)
- A vehicle adapted for a passenger travelling in a wheelchair. Licensing authorities often require a share of the fleet to be accessible, and jobs must be matched to it as a vehicle class.
- NEMTUS
- Non-emergency medical transportation: pre-scheduled rides to medical appointments, often paid by brokers or Medicaid programmes with their own trip, eligibility and billing rules.
Part 4
Customers and channels
- Web booker
- A booking form embedded in the operator's own website so customers book, get a quote and pay without calling. Jobs land in dispatch like any other. Web booker
- Passenger app (white-label)
- A rider app published under the operator's own name and logo rather than the software vendor's, with booking, tracking, payment and receipts. Passenger app
- Driver app
- The app drivers use to go on shift, receive and accept offers, navigate, update job status, take payment and see their earnings. Driver app
- IVR
- Interactive voice response: an automated phone system that takes or confirms bookings by keypad or voice, tells callers where their car is, and cuts the calls the office has to answer.
- Customer notifications
- Automatic SMS, push or email messages at booking, dispatch, arrival and completion, usually including a tracking link and a receipt. Customer notifications
- Tracking link
- A web page sent to the passenger showing the assigned car approaching on a map, with the driver's name, vehicle and ETA, without needing the app.
- Flight tracking
- Linking an airport pickup to a flight number so the pickup time follows the actual landing time and the driver is not sent early or late. Flight tracking
- Meet and greet
- An airport pickup where the driver waits inside the terminal with a name board and helps with luggage, priced as an extra on top of the transfer.
- Airport transfer
- A pre-booked trip to or from an airport at a fixed price, usually sold through hotels, travel agents and the operator's own booking channels. Airport transfer software
- Chauffeur and limo service
- Pre-booked executive transport priced by the hour or by the journey, where vehicle class, driver standards and reliability are the product rather than the lowest fare. Chauffeur software guide
- Ride-hailing
- On-demand booking through an app where the platform sets the price and allocates a nearby driver. A licensed local operator using dispatch software offers the same booking experience under its own brand, with its own fares and drivers.
Part 5
Technology and buying
- Cloud dispatch (SaaS)
- The system runs on the vendor's servers; you use a browser and apps and pay a subscription. Updates, backups and server capacity are the vendor's job. Cloud vs on-premise
- On-premise dispatch
- The system runs on a server in your own office. You own the hardware, the backups and the upgrade schedule, and remote access has to be arranged separately.
- White-label
- Software rebranded with your name and logo so customers see your business, not the vendor. It usually applies to the passenger app and the web booker; driver apps are more often vendor-branded.
- API (integration)
- The interface that lets the dispatch system exchange data with other software: accounting, payments, telephony, booking channels, hotel systems. Without one, every connection is manual. Integrations
- Payment gateway
- The service that processes card payments taken in the app, on the web booker or in the car, such as Stripe or Square, and settles the money to your account minus its fee.
- Data portability
- Your ability to export your bookings, customers, drivers and vehicles in a format another system can read when you leave a vendor. Data portability
- Parallel run
- Operating the old and new dispatch systems side by side during a migration so the old one remains a rollback until the new one has proved itself on live jobs. Migration protocol
FAQ
The questions people actually type
What is taxi dispatch?
Taxi dispatch is the process of getting each booked or hailed trip to a driver and seeing it through to drop-off. Historically a controller did it by radio; today dispatch software offers the job to a driver's phone, tracks the car, notifies the passenger and records what happened.
What does a taxi dispatcher do?
A dispatcher takes bookings, creates jobs and decides which driver gets them, then watches the fleet for problems: late pickups, no-shows, drivers going offline, flights landing early. In an automated system the software makes the routine allocations and the dispatcher handles the exceptions and the phone.
What is dispatch software?
Dispatch software is the system an operator uses to take bookings from the phone, a website and an app, allocate them to drivers automatically or by hand, track vehicles live, message passengers, and settle money with drivers and account customers. Cloud systems are used in a browser and paid monthly; on-premise systems run on a server in the office.
What is the difference between a taxi and a minicab?
In the UK a taxi, formally a hackney carriage, may be hailed in the street and wait on ranks, with a meter and fares set by the licensing authority. A minicab, formally a private hire vehicle, may only take trips pre-booked through a licensed operator and may not be hailed. Both drivers and both vehicles are licensed, but under different rules.
What is dead mileage in a taxi business?
Dead mileage is distance driven without a paying passenger: travelling to a pickup, returning from a drop-off, or repositioning to a busier area. It costs fuel and time and earns nothing, which is why dispatch systems try to offer each job to the driver who is closest or already heading that way.
What is a web booker?
A web booker is a booking form embedded in a taxi or private hire company's own website. Customers enter pickup, destination and time, see a quote, and book without calling; the job appears in dispatch like any other and the customer receives the usual confirmations and tracking link.
Keep reading
Where these words come up
See the words in action.
A 30-minute walkthrough of the TaxiDex console on your own routes and fares.