How To Set Up Taxi Business: WhatsApp, Call Center, Taxi Software
Julia Alexeenko
Efficient fleet management: pros & cons of WhatsApp, call center, and taxi management software explained.
Taxi business model: WhatsApp, call centers, apps, or dispatch?
The best-proven business strategy for the taxi business is to start small and scale as your customer base grows. So it makes sense that many young taxi businesses seek an easy-to-use system to manage orders and payouts once they start growing.
Let’s talk about ways to organize taxi management so you can make an informed decision.
How to organize efficient taxi management?
Depending on your taxi business model, there are different ways to organize taxi business management. Whichever way you choose, it should help you bring to life your taxi business growth strategies. For instance:
- It should be easy for the clients to place an order, and easy for the drivers to accept it and follow the route.
- The system needs to be stable. It also should work with no interruptions and load quickly, even at peak hours.
- The management system must accommodate fleet growth: it should make managing and tracking hundreds of drivers structured and easy.
- The platform the taxi business uses should ideally promote your brand and raise brand awareness.
A young ride-hailing company manually takes orders from individual passengers and distributes them among several drivers. It uses the following solutions to manage a taxi fleet of up to 10 cars:
- WhatsApp taxi management,
- Call center taxi management,
- Dispatch system management,
- Taxi app-based software.
Each approach has its pros and cons. Here’s your clear overview.
WhatsApp taxi management: pros and cons
A common taxi business management workaround, especially for young companies, is taking orders via WhatsApp or Telegram and distributing them to drivers via groups and chat rooms.
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy-to-use interface for drivers and clients | With multiple bookings, management gets messy |
| WhatsApp account for business is cheap | No fleet management features |
| Real-time location sharing is available | Limited scalability |
| Minimal set-up time | Depends on WhatsApp’s stability and security |
| No features for driver management, business data analytics, or marketing | |
| No branding opportunities | |
| Little control over revenue, completed rides, and paid orders |
Cost-effective and easy to launch for a small taxi business, WhatsApp doesn’t accommodate taxi business growth. These days, most clients prefer an Uber-like approach to ordering a taxi or delivery.
There is also a different side to it. If your clients order their rides via WhatsApp, all their personal information is stored by Meta. The stability of your service also depends on Meta’s functionality. This may disagree with local privacy and data safety guidelines in your country.
Call center taxi management: pros and cons
Call center taxi management means you take orders by phone and then assign drivers their jobs.
| Pros | Cons |
Ordering a taxi via the phone is an obvious flow for a client | With multiple bookings, management gets messy |
| Accessible and familiar for customers of all backgrounds and ages | Hiring enough operators is an additional cost to factor into your business plan |
| Set-up time and price is minimal | Clients often experience delays with order placement due to a combination of phone and WhatsApp order management |
| Real-time location sharing is available | No fleet management features |
| More control over revenue and paid orders as compared to WhatsApp-only taxi management | Limited scalability |
| ‘Human touch’ improves brand trust as the client can always reach the call center | No features for driver management, business data analytics, or marketing |
| No dependency on the Internet and smartphone use | Severely limited branding opportunities |
| Little control over completed rides | |
| Call charges add up to operational costs |
A call center is a classic style of managing a taxi company: people have been able to order rides through the phone for ages now. While it may seem attractive due to its low setup costs, it comes with the headache of managing phone operators.
Provided that a call center doesn’t help you manage a taxi fleet, we can hardly speak of efficient taxi management.
Dispatch systems for taxi business management
Working with a centralized dispatch software system allows you to automate the order process. The customers place their orders through a website, and the dispatch operators assign the orders to available drivers in the most efficient way.
| Pros | Cons |
Innovative, easy-to-use way of ordering a taxi through a website | Limited branding opportunities (no branded apps) |
| Set-up and maintenance costs can be kept low in case of a ready-made solution | Set-up, maintenance, and update costs can run high in case of a dispatch solution built from scratch |
| Set-up time is minimal in case of a ready-made solution | Set-up time can be long in case of a custom solution |
| Real-time location tracking and smart drivers queue | System stability depends on the software provider |
| More control over revenue, completed and paid orders with automated revenue tracking | Often bulky and hard-to-master software can require additional training for the operators |
| Order & driver management is efficient | At surge times, order distribution tends to run slow, leading to customer dissatisfaction |
| Supports business scalability | No Uber-like applications available for your clients and drivers |
| More opportunities for marketing your taxi services | Little control over completed rides |
| Just as with call center taxi management, the operators’ salaries form additional costs |
Dispatch systems come in many shapes and sizes: some are ready-to-use, others can be created from scratch and tailored to your business needs. Some feature pretty low set-up costs, while others are pricey (in the case of custom development). However, all dispatch systems cover your business scalability needs much better than working with WhatsApp or a call center to manage a taxi fleet.
WhatsApp taxi, call center, or Onde.Light platform?
Do you work with more than 10 drivers? Are you planning to scale your ride-hailing business or diversify it by adding a new service like delivery?
Onde.Light innovative taxi software is there for you to attract new customers, manage drivers efficiently, gain full control of the cash flow, and make informed business decisions with elaborate business performance analytics.
Onde.Light allows you to make 1,000 trips per month with no fees.
It is perfect for small taxi services, testing your taxi business idea, or efficiently managing a smaller taxi fleet to scale later. The fee is just 1.9% per trip if you exceed 1,000 trips.
You only need 1 business day to start working with Onde.Light. Its software combines the best features of modern ride-hailing solutions with the lowest commission in the market.
No contracts. No hidden fees. No limits for drivers and passengers.
Call center | WhatsApp for business | Dispatch taxi | Onde.Light taxi app | |
| Time to launch | 1-2 days | 1-2 days | 3-5 weeks | 1 day |
| Initial set-up costs | low (includes operators’ salaries and phone bills) | no set-up costs | prices per platform or dispatching solution range from US$2,000 to US$20,000 | no set-up cost |
| Developer on your side required | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Hidden payments | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Built-in payment gateways | ❌ | ❌ | at extra price | ❌ |
| Stability | mostly stable | mostly stable, dependent on Meta | often unstable | 99.98% uptime |
| Data processing security | depends on operators’ and drivers’ integrity | all data is shared with Meta and stored by Meta | potentially high, depending on the data storage practices of the provider | very high |
| App updates & maintenance | not required | not required | at extra price | ✅ |
| Apps’ branding | ❌ | ❌ | at extra price | ❌ |
| Various languages support | ✅ | ✅ | at extra price | ✅ |
| Business scalability opportunities | ❌ | ❌ | dependent on the software | ✅ |
| 24/7 community support chat | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
