Compare taxi software: 12 criteria
Which software suits your taxi business? This checklist names twelve points against which you can measure any offer – and says openly what TaxiAgentur offers in each case and what it does not.
As of: · Publisher: TaxiAgentur.de, Focustrend advertising agency, Günzburg
Anyone comparing taxi software should check twelve points: call answering, dispatch with live map, driver app, advance bookings and recurring rides, invoicing, staff management, messages to the drivers, data protection and server location, operation without installation, several companies, costs and notice period, and extensibility. The decisive factor is whether these parts sit in one system – otherwise every ride is typed in several times.
What kinds of taxi software exist
Very different things go by the name “taxi software”. Before you compare offers, it is worth asking which kind you are actually looking for:
Dispatch systems for radio taxi centres
Built for large centres with many affiliated operators. The focus is on allocating jobs.
Billing programs
The focus is on invoices and shift accounting. Call answering and dispatch are usually not included.
Booking apps and platforms
Passengers book via a third-party platform. The company is allocated rides; the customer relationship belongs to the platform.
All-in-one solutions from the cloud
Call answering, dispatch, driver app and invoicing in one system that runs in the browser. TaxiAgentur is one of these.
The twelve criteria
| Criterion | What you should look out for | How it is with TaxiAgentur |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Call answering | Who picks up when all drivers are on the road – at night, at the weekend? | AI phone answering around the clock, can be switched on and off per company. Recording, transcript and summary of every call. |
| 2. Dispatch | Live map, status of every ride, several dispatchers at once? | Dispatch with live map and four columns; several dispatchers see the same picture. |
| 3. Driver app | For iPhone and Android? Jobs by push? Simple enough for the shift? | Driver app for iPhone and Android, push, sign-in by PIN, shift report as PDF. |
| 4. Advance bookings and series | Calendar, recurring rides, import of existing appointments? | Calendar with month, week, day and list; series twelve months in advance; Google, Apple and Outlook calendars by subscription. |
| 5. Invoicing | Invoice, payment reminder, cancellation, both tax rates? | Invoices, quotes, payment reminders and cancellations; 7 %, 19 % or any rate; PDF with your own logo. |
| 6. Staff | Working time, holiday, deadlines for driving licence and P-Schein (passenger-transport driving permit)? | Staff management with personnel file, working time from the shifts and deadline monitoring. |
| 7. Messages | How do control centre and drivers reach each other – without a private phone? | Messages in both directions, push notifications, WhatsApp to the driver if desired. |
| 8. Data protection | Where are the servers located? Is there a data processing agreement? What happens to call recordings? | Servers in Germany; data processing agreement and AI policy publicly available; recordings are not used to train AI models. |
| 9. Technology | Does anything have to be installed? Access on the move? | Runs in the browser on a computer, tablet and mobile phone; can be added to the home screen as an app; light and dark appearance. |
| 10. Several companies | Can several companies be run under one roof? | Several companies under one login; an employee can be managed in several companies. |
| 11. Costs and term | Are the prices shown openly? How long is the notice period? What is added? | Open plan prices, cancellable monthly; usage-based telephony costs are added. |
| 12. Extensibility | What if your business works differently from what was intended? | Custom development: features you ask for are programmed and integrated into the existing system. |
What suits which company size
For the sole trader with one to three cars, call answering is the most important criterion. There is nobody who can sit by the phone all the time, and every missed call is a lost ride.
For the company with five to twenty vehicles it is dispatch. From this size upwards, nobody can keep in their head who is where and who will be free when.
For the control centre with several companies, what counts is that everything sits under one login and several dispatchers can work at the same time.
When TaxiAgentur is not the right choice
No program suits everyone. TaxiAgentur is not the right choice if you …
- … are looking for software that is permanently installed on your own computer in the office. TaxiAgentur runs exclusively from the cloud.
- … are looking for a platform that brings you passengers. TaxiAgentur is the tool for your own business and does not broker rides itself.
- … are looking for a taximeter. TaxiAgentur is the software for control centre, drivers and office, not a calibrated measuring device in the vehicle.
- … want to book as a private individual. The offer is aimed exclusively at businesses.
Ten questions for the conversation with any provider
- Who answers calls when nobody is in the office – and what does that cost?
- Do I see all vehicles on a map in real time?
- Is the driver app available for iPhone and Android?
- How do I set up a ride that repeats every week?
- Can I invoice at 7 % and at 19 % VAT?
- Where are the servers located, and do I get a data processing agreement?
- What does the software cost per month, and which costs are added?
- How long is the notice period?
- How do my existing appointments get into the new system?
- What happens if my business needs a feature that does not exist yet?
Frequently asked questions about comparing taxi software
What software does a taxi company need?
Essentially four things that constantly interlock in everyday work: call answering, dispatch, driver app and invoicing. Depending on the business, a calendar for advance bookings and recurring rides, staff management and an e-mail mailbox are added. All-in-one solutions such as TaxiAgentur bundle this in one system; anyone combining individual programs records every ride several times.
What is the difference between a ride-booking app and taxi software?
A ride-booking app brings passengers and drivers together via a third-party platform. Taxi software is the company’s own tool: it answers the calls of the company’s own customers, distributes the jobs to its own drivers and handles invoicing. TaxiAgentur is such taxi software and does not broker rides itself.
Is taxi software from the cloud secure?
The decisive factors are the location of the servers, encrypted transmission and a data processing agreement. With TaxiAgentur the servers are located in Germany, access is encrypted without exception, and the data protection documents are publicly available.
Do I have to retype all current appointments when switching?
Not with TaxiAgentur: the calendar can be imported from an existing calendar, and recurring appointments are created in one go.
Is TaxiAgentur also suitable for private-hire and patient transport companies?
Yes. The offer is aimed at taxi, private-hire and patient transport companies as well as other commercial passenger transport businesses.
For what size of company is taxi software worthwhile?
Even for the sole trader with one to three cars – there the biggest gain is automatic call answering, because nobody can sit by the phone all the time. From around five vehicles upwards dispatch becomes decisive, and control centres with several companies need everything under one login.
Go through the checklist with us
In a free live demo via Zoom we answer the twelve points for your business – openly, including where something does not fit.