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TAXIMETER-GPS
 
Newsletter January 2021 (III)

Luxembourg, January 29, 2021
Dear Reader,    
                                       
Please find here the announced part III of our series of 3 'Did You Know?' Newsletters.

It describes what we are offering in 'DISPATCHING Mode' and what makes us unique in this respect.

In case you have missed part I about 'LOCAL Mode', here's a link to it.
Part II about 'LOGIN Mode' can be found here.


Systems that provide 'Uber-like' Dispatching functionality are numerous, and much of the functionality that is found is quite identical. When we decided that we wanted to add Dispatching functionality to our Taximeter app, we wanted not only to replicate what is done elsewhere, but rather to add unique functionality that makes your business more competitive. And these are our unique features that you will not find anywhere else:
  • Dispatching 'as-a-service', in full Self-Service Mode
    No need to get in touch with us: simply do the configuration work on our website and start using the system. You will be operational with a full-fledged 'Uber-like' functionality in no time.
     
  • Combine Taximeter and Dispatching functionality
    The taximeter functionality is fully integrated - there is no need for interfacing or connecting additional devices. Hail trips and dispatched trips are both smoothly managed in the same driver app.
     
  • Two pricing structures for every trip request
    You have the possibility to offer 2 different prices for a passenger trip:
    • one being a fixed fare (this is what you find in all other systems).
    • the other one being a taximeter based fare calculated during the trip. The passenger will get an estimate of the fare before he books.
       
  • Make all functionality included in 'LOGIN Mode' available in the 'DISPATCHING Mode' as well, without additional costs. Read our Newsletter related to 'LOGIN Mode' for more details about what you get.
     
  • In cities where our app is not being used, or when no cars are available for dispatching in that city, the passenger app will nevertheless show the estimated fare for a hail trip.
    We can achieve this as we have the fare structure of 230+ cities in our database. 
I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading about our system and that you understand how we can help you with your business challenges.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.
 
Yours,


 Claude Roeltgen
 CIO
 Blue Lion Solutions S.à r.l.




https://taximeter-gps.com

Android Driver App             
Android Passenger App 

iOS Passenger App 
iOS Driver App 
(Does not contain all the features described below, our focus is mainly on Android. No Dispatching functionality)

How to setup 'DISPATCHING Mode'

You must have completed the setup of 'LOGIN Mode' as the system needs to know about your taximeter tariff. (If you haven't done so yet, please go back to Newsletter part II about how to do that.)

When done, login with your email address (or user name) on our site under the 'DISPATCHING Mode' tab:




You will now find instructions at the bottom of the first page that displays after login:



Please follow the instructions and do the following setup work:

  1. Companies
  2. Driver profiles ('Driver / Carrier')
  3. Vehicle Types
  4. Cars ('Driver / Carrier Taxis')

 

Companies


At least 1 company must be created.



When you add a company, you need to fill in a certain number of fields.
Two of them are really important:

With the Taximeter-GPS Reference, you tell the system to which tariff header your dispatching setup will be linked. You may change this reference at any time.

When the passenger agrees to register his credit card in the passenger app to allow automatic payment, we will use Stripe for crediting your account. You only need to click on 'Connect with Stripe' and follow the suggested workflow to have your Stripe account registered in our system.

Please note:

  • You may disable Dispatching anytime by clicking on the 'Dispatching' icon.
  • Dispatching is not supported in the iOS Driver app. Nevertheless, you may allow drivers to use the profile setup here for iOS login. Only the taximeter functionality will work in that case.

Drivers

No login in the driver app is possible without an active driver profile and a valid subscription attached to it.




Please note:

  • you can login in the driver app by using the 'Driver Carrier Name' or alternatively the email address.
  • the subscription expiry date is shown (field 'Subs') and you may renew it anytime. There is no automatic renewal.
  • the subscription purchase process slightly differs from what you have seen in 'LOGIN Mode'. You need first to purchase a driver licence credit amount on the Dashboard page:



    You can then do an allocation in the driver profile:

  • At occasions, the system needs to send an SMS to the requesting passenger or receiving driver. We use the platform Twilio for this and need to recharge these external costs to you. For SMS to work, you need to have purchased an SMS Credit Amount on the dashboard page. If no credit exists, no SMS will be sent and you will receive a warning by email. The pricing for Twilio can be found here.
  • you can temporarily block a driver for a specific period of time.
  • you can upload driver documents.
  • you may export your data in Excel format.
 

Vehicle Types

The concept of 'Vehicle Type' is very important and great care needs to be taken here. Vehicle Types are what the passenger will see in his app when ordering a taxi for a trip. So, think at the name you will give it (consider all languages), and the icon that will be displayed in the app.

Example of a setup with a Vehicle Type for a fixed fare and for taximeter based fare:


Please note:

  • You may decide to have the fare that is displayed to the passenger to be a fixed fare, or to have it taximeter based. This allows you to offer 2 different prices for the same trip, either fixed or variable. Click on 'FIXED' or 'TAXIMETER' to change status.
  • The second part of the field 'Taximeter-GPS Reference' (FIXED and METER respectively in above screenshot) is of fundamental importance: it defines the link to your header's sub-tariff(s). Its color should NEVER be red, as this shows that the link does not exist. In that case, go to your sub-tariff and set the app special instruction to "DISPATCH = xxx;" where xxx would be 'FIXED' or 'METER' in above example.
  • Be precise on the 'Person Capacity' value as it tells the system which Vehicle Type to present in the passenger app when more than 1 passenger is requesting.
  • You setup the commission that you will collect from your drivers for every dispatched trip.
  • You may also decide if a particular Vehicle Type is for Rides and / or Delivery.

Cars

Setting up cars is quite straight forward. Choose menu option 'Driver / Carrier Taxis'.

To note:

  • In a similar way as in 'LOGIN Mode', you can add the car's VIN number to allow the driver app to detect the car automatically when OBD is being used.
  • We have explained what 'Virtual' is about in our Newsletter related to 'LOGIN Mode'.
  • Every car must be linked to a Company.
  • Although not much needed due to the precision of our calculation algorithm, you have the possibility to add a calibration factor by which the measured distance will be multiplied on every trip.
  • You can upload vehicle documents here, but you can also do that in the driver app.


That's it! You are ready to use our system with full 'Uber-like' Dispatching functionality!

 

Trip Requests and Bookings

There are 3 ways on how you can dispatch trips to your drivers:

  • Passenger App
  • Website
  • APIs

Passenger App


Trips can be requested for :

Website ('Manual Bookings')


You can do:
  • immediate trip booking, or pre-booking
  • add instructions to driver
  • select fixed fare or taximeter based fare (if 'Vehicle Types' are configured accordingly)
  • prefer female drivers
  • prefer vehicles with handicap access
  • assign a specific driver, or have the system send the request to all drivers

APIs


Our system accepts trip requests from third-party systems through a technical API mechanism. This feature is not in Self-Service mode and requires the setup of a project with us.
Please contact us if you are interested.

White Label Apps

Although not needed from a purely technical point of view, you might nevertheless be tempted to have your own branded apps for marketing purpose.

Please check our Newsletter related to that subject.

What that Newsletter doesn't mention is that you may also have your Android Driver app branded. Please contact us if you wish to go that route as well.

More Features on Website

Once you start using our system, you will find these additional features being of interest to your business:
  • create additional Administrators for managing Dispatching and Billing
  • Promo Codes for special marketing actions
  • follow your driver's position in "God's View" function
  • manage payout to drivers
  • check a multitude of existing reports and use them for further processing in your own systems
  • send push notifications to your drivers
  • see how passengers rated your drivers

 

Driver App Considerations

Drivers need to know:

  • Login remains the exact same process as in 'LOGIN Mode'
  • a widget will be displayed over all other apps, alerting driver of un-assigned or upcoming trip requests. In this example, the next un-assigned trip will be in 6 days and twenty hours, and there is a total of 4 un-assigned trips.


     
  • it is important to stay online at all times to receive requests. The app will ask driver to confirm online status after a given number of minutes of inactivity (that value can be set in instruction: ACCEPTEDDISPATCHNOACTIVITYTIME)


     
  • when app moves to background, status will automatically go to offline (that value can be set in instruction: DISPATCHAUTOMATICOFFLINE)
  • In 'DISPATCHING Mode' there is a SOS button that can trigger an alert to pre-defined contacts.
  • Driver may chat with passenger during pickup and trip, or call him.
You may wish to watch these videos:

       

 
Copyright © 2021 Blue Lion Solutions, All rights reserved.


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