Why You Need An Automated Driver Billing System For Your Taxi Booking App

As the world is getting digitized, it has introduced many automated applications which made our day-to-day tasks quite easier. Similarly, the arrival of the on-demand taxi booking app has made many changes in the entire traditional taxi business industry. We hope you already know about the global player of the taxi business, Uber that has made revolutionary changes across the world. But other than providing a seamless taxi booking experience, the apps should also help the drivers to do their jobs with efficiency and ease. But do all taxi apps are equipped with such advanced features as the automated driver billing system? Unfortunately, No. 

To make the entire taxi business operation smooth, your app should be integrated with an advanced financial management process. This is where the automated driver billings system helps. So if you are planning to go for an on-demand taxi booking app development, then this post will be very helpful to you. Here you will get to know everything about the automated driver billings system, its benefits, challenges, features, and more. 

Challenges Faced By The Taxi Booking App Without Automated Billing System

Difficulty In Procuring Commission

There used to be the days when taxi business owners used to collect commissions on an offline basis. Now if you are an owner of a large taxi business, collecting commissions online would be an easier option. If your app doesn’t have an automated driver billing system, it becomes very difficult to collect commissions from all your drivers. If you have a large group of drivers, it becomes impossible for you to go to every driver individually for charging commissions. Moreover, you cannot just ask anyone to visit your office and give the commission amount. This way you will end up wasting a huge amount of money that can create a chaotic situation.

Difficulty In Implementing Any Incentive Programs

Procurement and collection of the commissions are not the only problems that are solved by the automated billing systems. In fact, there are many taxi companies that have designed a robust incentives structure that motivates the drivers to work more. If you are still dependent on the traditional method of collecting commissions, you will not be able to execute these incentive plans effectively.

Lots Of Paperwork

If your company is still following the traditional method of collecting commission then you need to undergo lots of paperwork. There you have to maintain a record of each of your drivers manually. If your company has hired lots of drivers, the entire management will be tougher. Not only this but also due to lots of paperwork, there will be the risk of human errors that can cause a huge loss to your company. Thus to solve this issue, your company should adopt an automated driver billings system.

Related read: Ace Your Vehicle Rental Agency Management Like “Uber”

Solutions Offered By Automated Drivers Billing System To Your Taxi Booking App

An on-demand taxi booking app should be integrated with an automated driver billings system. This system consists of two sections namely driver settlement as well as driver wallet. Now let us have a look at how each of these sections functions and how they solve all the issues that are related to the manual payment system.

Driver Wallet

Every driver’s account is allotted to an individual wallet in their taxi booking app. They use this wallet to collect commissions and share their incentives. You can use the driver wallet of the app in two different ways: you can either use it as a postpaid plan or as a prepaid plan. Now if you opt for the prepaid plan, the driver needs to pay a specific amount of money to fill the wallet. Then every time your driver will finish the ride, the app will automatically deduct the commission from the wallet. This can be in the form of a daily, weekly, or monthly cycle. When the cycle ends, the driver will track the wallet balance and calculate the commissions and incentives accordingly.

Whereas in the second option, the driver does not have to fill in the money regularly. It can be cashless at the beginning of the cycle. After every ride, a specific amount of commission will be deducted from the wallet, then at the end of the cycle, there will be a negative balance. Now to make the wallet balance back to positive, the driver needs to recharge the money for paying the commission and proceed to the next cycle.

Driver Settlement

There are two segments in this section: Pay In as well as Pay Out.

Pay In is a specific amount of money that the drivers need to pay at the end of the cycle after taking into account different factors like commissions, incentives, taxes, penalties, etc. On the other hand, the payout is the money that will be paid to the drivers after considering the same factors that are mentioned above when the cycle ends.

The main advantage of using driver settlement in your automated driver billing system is to get access to manage the entire finances as per the needs and preferences of the company. This way you will be able to save time and also meet the requirements when you are in urgent need of money. It makes the entire payment management process hassle-free.

So these are two ways through which you can easily be able to manage your finances. But the benefits don’t end here. An automated driver billing system offers various other benefits too.

Benefits Of Having Automated Drivers Billing System In Your Taxi Booking App

Fast Billing Process

The users just have to set up the driver’s billing once in the automated driver billings system. With this one-time setting, the invoices will be automatically generated. This way you can save ample time and the overhead costs will be reduced. As we said above, the manual billing process may lead to multiple errors. Thus it may create problems for the users which can increase the churn rate and harm the brand image. Choosing the automated billing system will eventually protect your taxi business from all sorts of issues by continuing error-free operations.

Get Details On Real-Time Financial Information

An automated driver billings system will help in providing real-time business information. By getting real-time information, the company can make sound financial decisions for the business and make maximum profits.

User-Centric Approach

Automating the driver billing system will make the entire function systematic. Not only this but you can also provide a user-centric approach by customizing the payment methods as per the preferences of the users. In short, the user-centric and flexible approach of the automated driver billings system of the taxi booking app will help in increasing the revenue and win the competition.

Related read: 7 UX tips to design better taxi apps

Automatically Applied Discounts And Coupons

If your taxi booking company is associated with hundreds of customers, it becomes next to impossible to offer a personalized approach to each. But with the help of an automated billing system, you can configure the invoice system to apply the given discounts of automated billing. It’s very simple, easy, and efficient.

Increases Transparency

Billing as well as payment issues arise everywhere. Having reliable information will help in giving quick answers to the problems. An automated billing system offers retrievable audit trails in each step of the billing process. The admin has access to every billing record that he can check anytime. This will solve all the billing-related concerns of the clients, thus building customer relationships.

Automated Reporting

Automated driver billings system contains automated analytics and reports which provide information on the invoices issued by the company, total amount collected and uncollected, and others. Getting precise and real-time reports are important for the company. Not only this but you can even collect the data of a particular driver. This data will offer all the detailed information for improving your sales, business as well as marketing strategies.

Features Of Automated Taxi Dispatch System

A robust automated taxi dispatch system can be used by all types of taxi service providers irrespective of their size to make their business run smoothly. Let us have a look at the features of an ideal automated taxi dispatch system.

Customer Panel

This app will let your customer enjoy a seamless taxi booking experience. Following are the features of the customer panel:

Easy Onboarding

If you are a new app user, you can get started with the phone number or email id to continue using its services.

Quick Booking

The UI-powered app consists of a section equipped with certain features which will help to book your ride in a few simple clicks.

Ride Details

In this section, the passengers can receive all the important details related to their ride after the booking is done.

Live Tracking

Through the live tracking feature, the customers can get updates and can even track the location of the driver on a map.

Fare Estimates

The app will also show the upfront cost when the customer provides the location of pick-up and drop points.

Discount Codes

There is also a section where the customers can avail of the discount codes. All they need to do is simply apply any promo code while booking a ride.

Push Notification

This feature provides on-time alerts for important offers via SMS or in-app notifications.

Seamless Payment

The customers can make payments instantly without any issues with multiple payment options.

Trip Sharing

The trip sharing feature allows the passengers to share their trip status with their friends and family for safety concerns.

Pick Up Suggestions

This feature displays the predictive pick-up suggestions on the basis of the past booking history of the passenger.

In-App Chat

The app is integrated with an in-app option which helps the passengers to communicate with the drivers to solve any query.

Related read: Beat Uber/Lyft With These 9 Advanced Features In Your Taxi App

Driver Panel

This is a feature-packed driver pay app that keeps the driver fleet efficient and productive. Following are its features:

Driver Registration

The driver registration section makes it easy for the new drivers to complete the registration in the app by filling in the details and submitting the documents. On the other hand, the accounts tab deals with the profile of the drivers. It is mainly used to make any changes to their details.

Built-In Navigation

For an efficient driving experience, the drivers need a robust mapping service to check the location of the passengers. As the app is integrated with a service like Google Maps, the passengers can easily check the pick-up and drop location.

Availability Button

The driver app is featured with an availability button that shows whether the driver is online or offline. Some apps are even featured with a snooze option which the drivers can make use of whenever he wants to take a break.

Accept Or Decline Rides

The drivers can either accept or reject taxi booking requests with the help of the accept or decline button. If the driver fails to respond to the booking, the request will be forwarded to the other nearby drivers. 

Real-Time Notifications

Real-time notification features help the drivers to get notified when a new booking is made. Moreover, they can even get the latest updates through SMS, email, and push notifications.

Trip Actions

The drivers can update the passengers about their arrival by using this feature. Once the driver picks up the passenger they will tap at the begin ride button. The end trip button needs to be clicked when the ride is completed.

Track Earnings

The driver has the access to use the track earnings feature. This feature will allow the drivers to view their daily earnings as well as incentives for their tasks. This is one of the most important features of the automated driver payout app.

Driver Dashboard

In this section, you can view the important details about the past, recent, and upcoming trips performance, statistics, and feedback received by the passengers. This way the driver can know about the strengths and weaknesses and improve their performances.

Admin Panel

The admin panel is equipped with intelligent features which help to manage all the important aspects of the taxi business. Here are its features:

Secure Login

It is integrated with two-factor authentication which allows the admin to securely access the admin panel.

Custom Dashboard

The app is integrated with a customizable dashboard for getting a high-level operational overview.

Driver Management

In this section, the admin can add, edit and manage the entire driver network, their payment, feedback, and more.

Customer Management

This section will allow the users to manage the app user base, booking details, queries, and feedback provided by the customers.

Dispatchers Management

The admins can add, edit and manage dispatchers as well as operators to handle booking requests.

Manual Dispatch

This feature will allow the dispatch team to manually handle booking requests.

Automatic Dispatch

The app is equipped with a sophisticated algorithm that automatically assigns new tasks to the drivers who are online.

Manage Categories

The admin can define as well as manage all the ride options that you want to provide through your app.

Tariffs Management

The app has a configuration that consists of taxi fare calculation settings, bill generation, and surge pricing.

Live Fleet Tracking

This section will allow the admin to keep an eye on the entire network on a real-time basis with the help of a map.

Manage Payment

The payment management feature of the app allows the admin to manage drivers’ accounts, payment modes, payment gateways, commissions earned by them, and more.

Promotions Management

The admin can set up different exciting discounts and offers and run promo codes and other deals to increase engagement. Not only this, he can even track their performance on real-time status.

Reporting And Analytics

The admin can get detailed insights into the performance of the customers and drivers. He can further leverage data to make timely and precise decisions to increase the brand value.

Related read: How AI-Driven Cab Management Software Is Turning Into A Disruptive Integration?

How To Set Up An Effective Automated Driver Billing System For Your Taxi Booking App?

An ideal automated billing system does not need any effort after you set it up. The following points will let you know how to get started by selecting and setting up a new automated driver billings system.

Research Taxi App-Specific Billing System

You need to be aware that taxi businesses cannot use the same automated billing system as grocery shops. You need to take into account special considerations while the billing process such as insurance payments. Moreover, make sure to select the specific automated billing system which your company can afford as per the needs and requirements.

Ensure To Integrate With Existing Accounting Software

To decrease the effort in data collection we would advise you to integrate your automated driver billings system with your existing accounting software. This is because if you implement a billing software that doesn’t match with the accounting software, it will increase the current billing workload onto bookkeeping.

Transfer Driver Payment Data

Once you are done with the selection of the right billing system, start working on migrating your drivers’ payment data to the new system. The software should migrate the drivers’ data seamlessly to save time.

Customize Invoices

Once all the steps are followed, you need to customize the invoices by adding your company name, logo, contact details, and automatic payment information. You don’t want to let your drivers’ confused as to whom they are paying.

The Bottomline

There are immense benefits of an automated driver billings system because it makes the billing process quick, efficient, and error-free. Also, it provides you access to dictate the cash flow according to your needs. If you are planning to launch a taxi booking app integrated with an automated driver billings system, then AllRide Taxi App experts will assist you in this case. Try a demo solution now.