The taxi board on the Mac

The Taxi screen is the taxi desk. Its switcher at the top holds Board, Trips, Standing, Vouchers, Rates, Fleet, Log and Airport. This article covers the Board, the Trips list, the trip sheet and the New trip form.

Before you start #

• You need the owner, manager, advisor or dispatcher role and a connection to the server. Every change on these screens is sent to the server at once. While the Mac is offline the board and lists show the copy saved on this Mac, marked with its time, and each button that changes something is switched off with a line saying why.
• Rates must be set first (see mac-taxi-rates) and drivers need a shift (see mac-taxi-fleet and taxi-shifts-and-vehicles).

Read the board #

1. Choose Taxi in the sidebar. The line above the columns counts the trips, for example "2 waiting, 1 offered, 3 under way, 4 booked for later."
2. The columns are Waiting, Offered, On the way, Arrived, On trip and Later. A row shows the trip number, the rider, the route, the time and one more fact: for Offered, the driver and the time left on the offer, for Later, the pick-up time.
3. A trip marked Needs the desk has a red row, a warning symbol and the words Needs the desk. It sits at the top of Waiting. A red banner counts them, the Dock icon shows the count, and a sound plays when a new one arrives. The speaker button in the toolbar switches the sound off and on.
4. The right side lists the drivers on shift: the taxi, a break and the trip each one is on. End shift (with a confirmation) takes a driver off duty and frees the taxi.
5. Under the drivers, the Airport queues panel shows who is first in line at each queue. Choose Open the airport queue for the full queue (see mac-airport-queue).
6. The board reads again every 5 seconds. Run dispatch (Option-Command-D) makes lapsed offers move on and offers waiting trips right away.

Book a trip #

1. Choose New trip, or press Command-N.
2. Type the rider, phone and email, the pick-up address and the drop-off address.
3. Add the latitude and longitude of both ends. With both filled, the Estimate section shows the fare and its lines.
4. Set the passengers and the class. Tick the wheelchair box when it applies. Choose Now or Later; Later asks for the pick-up date and time.
5. Choose a billing account and type the authorization code when the trip is on an account.
6. Choose Book the trip. The trip joins the board.

Follow a trip #

Choose a row on the board, or a row on the Trips list. The trip sheet opens on the right.

1. Drivers who can take it, best first, shows the time and distance for each free driver.
2. Give the trip to a driver: pick the driver, choose Offer it and wait for the answer or Assign it now, and choose Offer the trip or Assign the trip. A driver below the first choice needs a reason, which the server keeps with the offer.
3. Cancel this trip takes a reason and a tick to waive the cancellation fee. The message says what fee, if any, was charged.
4. Record a no-show works once a driver is on the way or has arrived.
5. For a completed trip, Send the receipt emails the rider or the address you type, and Show the receipt reads it here.
6. Offer history lists every offer with the driver, the time, the answer, who made it and the reason.

Find an older trip #

The Trips section lists every trip. Search by rider, phone, trip number or address, and filter by Open, Completed, or Canceled and no-show.

If something goes wrong #

• "This trip can no longer be given to a driver.": the trip has started or ended.
• The server says the driver is off shift: pick a driver from the list, or start the driver's shift first.
• The Assign button stays gray: pick a driver, and type a reason when the driver is below the first choice.
• Everything is gray and a line says the change needs the server: the Mac is offline. Reconnect and try again (see mac-offline-and-sync).