What should fleet management cover in a taxi business?
Five things: the vehicles (type, registration, assigned driver, documents), document expiry dates, maintenance and inspections, driver shifts and working limits, and the money each driver earned and is owed. Dispatch then uses those records instead of a separate spreadsheet.
- Vehicles with type, registration, assigned driver and documents; vehicle type decides what can be dispatched, so a wheelchair-accessible booking only goes to a vehicle that can take it (vehicles and maintenance).
- Permits for drivers and vehicles (licences, badges, background checks, insurance), each with a reference and expiry date, with counts of what has expired and what is about to (permits).
- Maintenance: what is due and what has been done, so an inspection or service date is not on a wall calendar.
- Planning: schedules, shifts, hours-of-service limits and a cover chart showing gaps by hour of the week (shifts and schedules).
- Settlements built from each driver's completed bookings: gross, commission, deductions, net (driver settlements).
Why keep fleet records in the dispatch system?
Because the operator answers for it. Outside London, a licensed operator who knowingly sends out a private hire vehicle that is not licensed, or a driver who is not, commits an offence under section 46 of the 1976 Act. Keeping documents beside the jobs means the office sees an expiring licence in the same place it sends the work.[1]
What reports does a fleet owner need?
Bookings, driver activity, commission and earnings, customers and account companies, by date range and exportable, with a weekly summary delivered without anyone remembering to run it. TaxiDex reports cover those and can be scheduled.
See reports.
Frequently asked questions
Is fleet management software the same as dispatch software?
They overlap: dispatch gets jobs to drivers; fleet management keeps vehicles, documents, shifts and driver money in order. In TaxiDex both are in one console.
Can it track vehicle maintenance?
Yes. TaxiDex records what maintenance is due and what has been done for each vehicle.
How is TaxiDex priced?
Per active driver per month: Starter £11 / $14 (1-20 drivers), Professional £9 / $11 (21-100), Enterprise from £7 / $9 (100+), with a minimum of £79 (about $100) a month. A driver who does not work in a month is not billed for that month.
Sources
Fees and rules change. Each source is the official page we read, with the date we read it; check it before you apply or pay.