Website and phone bookings, priced instantly and paid upfront, on one board.
Taxi booking software is the system a cab company uses to capture ride requests from its website, phone, and repeat customers, price them, take payment, and send each booking to dispatch. For a small or mid-size fleet, the goal is simple: every request becomes a confirmed, paid ride on the board, without someone retyping it from a voicemail.
This page shows how taxi booking works in Ride Sync, what to set up first, and a booking flow you can copy for your own website.
What taxi booking software needs to do
Good taxi booking software captures every request in one place, prices it consistently, secures payment, and hands it to dispatch with nothing missing. If any of those four steps happens on paper or in a text thread, rides fall through the cracks.
Here is the checklist to hold any system to:
Website booking widget, Why it matters for a cab company: Captures airport and scheduled rides after hours
Instant quotes from your rate rules, Why it matters for a cab company: The rider sees a fare before they leave your site
Pay to confirm, Why it matters for a cab company: Cuts no-shows and gets the fare upfront
Phone booking into the same record, Why it matters for a cab company: Calls do not live in a separate notebook
Saved customer profiles, Why it matters for a cab company: Regulars rebook in seconds
SMS and email confirmations, Why it matters for a cab company: Riders know the booking is real
One dispatch board, Why it matters for a cab company: Every booking, whatever the channel, lands in one view
Ride Sync covers every line on that list.
Online booking from your own website
Ride Sync gives you a booking and quote widget for your website. A rider enters a pickup, drop-off, date, and time, and gets an instant fare based on the rate rules you set: a base fare, per-mile pricing, minimums, airport fees, and after-hours surcharges.
With instant booking turned on, the rider pays to confirm right there by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Payment runs through a one-click Stripe connection on your own Stripe account, so the money settles with you. The booking lands on your dispatch board already priced and paid.
This matters most for the rides that are hardest to catch by phone: the 4:45 a.m. airport pickup booked at 11 p.m., the hospital discharge arranged by a family member, the visitor planning tomorrow's ride from a hotel room.
Phone and repeat bookings in the same place
Most cab companies still take a big share of rides by phone. In Ride Sync, a phone booking goes into the same reservation record as a web booking. Repeat riders have saved customer profiles with their usual addresses and payment details, so a regular's booking takes seconds. Repeat riders can also log in to a customer web account to see their bookings and rebook with saved payment methods, which takes calls off your line.
From booking to dispatch
Every booking lands on the dispatch board with the pickup, drop-off, time, rider details, and notes. When you assign a driver, the scheduling assistant highlights on the reservation page if that driver is already booked in that window, so you do not stack two rides on one cab. Drivers receive their assignments and reminders by email. Live GPS shows where each car is.
The dispatch side is covered in depth in taxi dispatch software for small fleets, and the dispatcher's view of a full shift is in Limo Dispatch, From the Dispatcher's Chair.
Keeping riders informed
Ride Sync sends riders automatic SMS and email confirmations when they book, and reservation reminders before pickup. A reminder is the cheapest no-show prevention there is, and it means fewer "is my cab still coming?" calls on a busy morning.
A setup plan for your first week
Here is the order that gets a cab company taking online bookings fastest:
Day 1: Add your vehicles and drivers. Connect Stripe with one click.
Day 1: Enter your rate rules: base fare, per-mile rate, minimum fare, airport fees, and any late-night surcharge.
Day 2: Test-quote ten of your common trips and compare them to what you charge today. Adjust until they match.
Day 2: Add the booking and quote widget to your website. Put it on the homepage and an airport-rides page.
Day 3: Turn on instant booking with pay-to-confirm for scheduled rides.
Days 3 to 7: Enter every phone booking in the system too, so the board is the only source of truth.
Example rate rules to start from
The numbers below are placeholders to show structure, not recommended fares. Your local regulations may set taxi fares, so check your city or county rules before publishing rates.
Base fare, Example setting (assumption): $4.00
Per mile, Example setting (assumption): $2.75
Minimum fare, Example setting (assumption): $12.00
Airport pickup fee, Example setting (assumption): $5.00
Late night (11 p.m. to 5 a.m.), Example setting (assumption): +15%
Worked fare: a 14-mile airport pickup at 4 a.m. is $4.00 + (14 x $2.75 = $38.50) + $5.00 airport fee = $47.50, plus 15% late night ($7.13) = $54.63. Ride Sync applies the same rules to every quote, so the rider who books online and the one who calls get the same fare.
When a ride runs long or adds tolls
Fares change after the ride sometimes: a toll road, an extra stop, a long wait. Ride Sync keeps the card saved from the booking, so you can charge after-ride extras without chasing the rider. If something needs to be reversed, refund management handles it from the reservation.
Taxi plus other work on one board
Many cab companies also run airport shuttles, a couple of executive cars, or tours in the busy season. Ride Sync runs taxi, limo, and tour work on one board with shared vehicles and billing, so adding a line of business does not mean adding a second system. If you are just getting started, how to start a taxi business covers the setup decisions around licensing, vehicles, and first customers.
Frequently asked questions
What is taxi booking software?
It is software that captures ride requests from your website, phone, and repeat customers, prices them with your fare rules, takes payment, and sends each booking to dispatch, so every request becomes a confirmed ride on one board.
Can riders book and pay online with Ride Sync?
Yes. Riders book from the widget on your website, see an instant fare, and with instant booking turned on they pay to confirm by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay through your own Stripe account.
Does Ride Sync have a rider app?
No. Riders book from your website widget and can use a customer web account to rebook with saved payment methods. Many small fleets prefer this because riders do not need to download anything.
Can I take phone bookings too?
Yes. Phone bookings go into the same reservation record and dispatch board as online bookings, and saved customer profiles make repeat bookings fast.
Does Ride Sync handle airport and scheduled rides?
Yes. You can set airport fees and surcharges in your rate rules, take scheduled bookings days in advance, and send riders automatic reminders before pickup.
Quick recap
Taxi booking software should capture every request, price it consistently, secure payment, and hand it to dispatch. Ride Sync does this with a website booking and quote widget, instant fares from your rate rules, pay-to-confirm through your own Stripe account, phone bookings in the same record, saved customer profiles and web accounts, SMS and email reminders, and one dispatch board for taxi, limo, and tour work.
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