# First customers for a taxi business: how to get your first 100 bookings > A new taxi business finds its first customers in two places: people already searching for a taxi near you, and people who can see you or know you. In the first month, set up your Google Business Profile, make sure the booking line gets answered, put fixed prices on a simple website, visit 20 local venues, and record where every booking came from. By Joe, founder of Dispatch AI. Updated 2026-10-21. The web page: https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/getting-your-first-taxi-bookings/ Your licence has come through, the cars are plated and the phone is quiet. Every taxi business starts here. This guide is about the first customers: where they come from, what to do in your first month to reach them, the rules that catch new firms out on school runs and leaflets, and how to tell which of your efforts brought in your first taxi bookings. ## Where do a new taxi firm's first customers come from? A new firm's first customers come from two places. Some are people searching for a taxi near them right now, on Google Maps or on their phone. The rest are people who can see you or already know you: neighbours, local businesses, a pub landlord, the friends and family of your drivers. The first group finds you if you're listed and answer. The second group needs you to turn up and ask. Here's how the main sources compare in the first month: | Source | How fast it brings bookings | What it costs | What to do this month | |---|---|---|---| | Google Business Profile | Days to weeks, once verified | Free | Set it up with your real name, number and service areas | | People ringing the number | Straight away, if someone answers | Staff time or a phone service | Cover the hours the office can't | | Your website | Weeks | Hosting and your time | Fixed prices, a booking form, tap-to-call | | Local venues and businesses | Weeks | Cards and your time | Visit 20 in person and leave a direct number | | Leaflets | Days, in the streets you cover | Print and delivery | Short runs with a code on each batch | | Passengers passing you on | Starts with your first job | A card in each car | Ask every passenger | **Example:** 100 bookings in your first 30 days is 100 ÷ 30 = about 3 or 4 jobs a day. Set your own target from your own costs, then work out how many jobs a day it needs. Our guide to [whether a taxi business is profitable](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/is-a-taxi-business-profitable-uk/) covers the costs side. ## How do you get found on Google in your first month? Get your Google Business Profile verified, complete and accurate in week one, because that's what shows on Google Maps when someone searches for a taxi near them. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Five things to get right from Google's own help pages: - **Name.** Your real-world name, as it appears on your cars, website and stationery. No added keywords. - **Address.** If passengers don't visit your office, Google says a service-area business should hide its address. - **Service areas.** Up to 20, with the whole area no more than about two hours' drive from your base. - **Phone.** Google says to use a local phone number instead of a central call centre helpline whenever possible, and the number must be under the direct control of the business. - **Reviews.** Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask your first passengers, all of them, in the same way. The full set-up, including categories and verification, is in our guide to [Google Business Profile for taxi firms](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/google-business-profile-for-taxi-firms/). The rules on asking for reviews are in [getting more Google reviews](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/getting-more-google-reviews-taxi/). ## Why does answering the phone matter more than advertising? A new firm gets few calls, so each one counts more than it ever will again. Someone who rings a new number and hears it ring out won't try twice, and an advert only makes more of those calls. Before you spend a pound on adverts, decide who answers in each part of the day. Write down the hours: you, a driver between jobs, a family member, an answering service. Then set the diverts. On a standard BT business line, the no-answer divert sends on calls not answered within 15 seconds, and the busy divert sends on calls when the line is engaged. Your number itself matters too: a local 01 or 02 number you own, kept for years, printed on everything. Our guide to [choosing a phone number and phone system](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/phone-number-and-phone-system-for-a-taxi-firm/) covers the choices, and [missed calls in a taxi office](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/missed-calls-in-a-taxi-office/) shows how to count the calls you lose. ## What should a new taxi firm's website have on day one? A new taxi firm's website needs four things on day one, and nothing else matters until they work: 1. **A phone number at the top** that rings when tapped on a phone. 2. **Fixed prices** for the trips people ask about most: the airport, the station, the hospital, the next town. 3. **A way to book without ringing**, such as a short form or a chat booking assistant, so a passenger at midnight can book there and then. 4. **A confirmation** by text or email the moment the booking goes in. Book a job on your own site from your own phone before you tell anyone it's live. If it takes more than a minute, cut a step. [What a taxi website needs to get bookings](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/taxi-website-that-gets-bookings/) goes into the detail. ## Which local venues and businesses should you visit first? Visit the places where somebody gets asked "can you call me a taxi?" several times a week. Twenty visits in the first month is a realistic start for an owner, and each one can send you bookings for years. Start with these local venues, closest first: - Hotels and guest houses, especially the reception staff on the late shift. - Pubs, restaurants and clubs, at the end of the night. - Wedding and events venues, where guests need cars at a set time. - Care homes and GP surgeries, where people need rides to appointments. - Garages and MOT centres, whose customers need a lift while the car is in. - Firms with early or late shifts, where staff need a car when the buses don't run. Take cards with a direct number. Ask who books, when their busiest finish is, and whether the guest pays in the car or the business pays on account. Then make the first few pickups for them faster and more polite than they've ever had. [Hotel and venue partnerships](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/hotel-and-venue-partnerships-for-taxi-firms/) covers what to offer, and [winning corporate clients](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-get-corporate-taxi-clients/) covers businesses that want an account. ## Can a new firm take school runs and hospital runs? Yes, and both bring regular pre-booked work, but both carry rules you must follow from the first job. School runs come in two kinds. Parents booking privately are ordinary passengers, but you're carrying children, often alone. Council school transport is bought by tender, and since 24 February 2025 the central place to find public contracts is Find a Tender, which the government says is free to use. Councils set their own requirements, so read each tender. Our guide to [council school transport contracts](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/winning-council-school-transport-contracts/) explains how the tenders work. Whoever books the school run, the safeguarding duty is yours. The Department for Transport's Statutory Standards ask councils to put every driver through an enhanced DBS check with both barred lists, and an enhanced check costs £41 from 5 October 2026. They also say an operator can't pass on the obligation to protect children and vulnerable adults, even when it outsources booking and dispatch. Hospital runs are regular passengers with appointments: the same trip every week, booked days ahead. Some passengers will need a wheelchair-accessible car or help to the door. Note what they need on the booking so every driver knows. And never refuse one because of an assistance dog: under section 170 of the Equality Act 2010, a private hire operator commits an offence by refusing a booking for that reason. [Safeguarding for taxi firms](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/safeguarding-for-taxi-firms/) covers training and what to do when you're worried. ## Do leaflets still bring in bookings for a new firm? Leaflets can bring in a new firm's first bookings, if they go to the right streets and say the right words. Keep the runs short, put a different code on each batch, and count the bookings each batch brings in. Check the words before you print. In London, section 31 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 bans private hire adverts that use "taxi", "taxis", "cab" or "cabs", though "minicab" is allowed. Outside London, section 64 of the Transport Act 1980 covers signs on the car itself, and some councils go further. Woking's operator conditions, for example, say no advertising material, stationery or business name may include the words "taxi" or "cab". Read your own operator conditions. Check where you hand them out, too. Under Schedule 3A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, councils can designate land where handing out free leaflets, or putting them on cars, needs the council's consent. Pushing them through letterboxes isn't covered by that schedule. More on design and delivery is in [do taxi leaflets still work](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/do-taxi-leaflets-still-work/). ## How do you turn each passenger into the next booking? Ask. Each passenger in your first month knows a dozen people who need a car. Put a referral card in every car with your number and your website, and have drivers hand one over at the end of the journey. Book the return while the passenger is still on the phone, especially on airport runs. Ask regulars if a weekly booking would help. If you want to text offers to past passengers, the ICO says you need their consent, or the soft opt-in: they bought or asked about a similar service from you, and you gave them a simple way to opt out when you took their details and in every message since. A booking confirmation isn't marketing; an offer is. You can reward a referral. You can't reward a review. [Turning passengers into regulars](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/turning-passengers-into-regulars/) covers the rest. ## How do you know which of these brought your first 100 bookings? Record the booking source on every job, from the first one. If you don't, by week six you'll have spent money on leaflets and a website and won't know which one worked. | Where the booking came from | How to tag it | |---|---| | Phone | Ask "how did you hear about us?" and pick from a short list | | Google Business Profile | A tagged link on the profile's website button | | Website | The booking form records the page it came from | | Leaflets | A different code or offer on each batch | | Venue or business | The venue's name on the booking | | Passenger passed you on | Ask who recommended you | Count them every Monday. Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms, and it lets you see where each booking came from: which ad, leaflet or website page brought it in, so you know what each new customer costs you. Whatever system you use, the tagging matters more than the tool. [Where your taxi bookings come from](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/where-your-taxi-bookings-come-from/) explains how to set up the tags, and [your first 90 days](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/first-90-days-of-a-new-taxi-firm/) puts this into a week-by-week plan. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long does it take a new taxi firm to get regular bookings? No reliable figure is published, because it depends on your town, your prices and how many cars you run. What you control is how fast you're listed on Google, whether the phone gets answered, and how many venues you visit. Track bookings by source each week, so you can see which of those is working. ### Should I pay for Google Ads in my first month? Only once the phones are covered and your Google Business Profile is live. An advert that makes the phone ring when nobody answers wastes money. Our guide to [Google Ads for taxi firms](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/google-ads-for-taxi-firms/) covers set-up and budgets. ### Can a private hire firm call itself a taxi firm in its adverts? In London, no: section 31 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 bans "taxi" and "cab" in private hire adverts, though "minicab" is allowed. Outside London, check your council's operator conditions, because some, such as Woking, ban the words in any advertising material or business name. ### Can I put leaflets on car windscreens? Councils can designate areas where handing out free leaflets, or putting them on vehicles, needs their consent, under Schedule 3A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Check with your council before you do it. Letterbox delivery isn't covered by that schedule. ### Can I text my first passengers with an offer? Only with their consent or under the soft opt-in, the ICO says. The soft opt-in needs them to have booked or asked about a similar service, and a simple way to opt out when you took their number and in every message. A plain booking confirmation is a service message, not marketing. ## Sources - [Guidelines for representing your business on Google (Google Business Profile Help)](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en-GB) real-world name, local phone number under the business's control, hiding a service-area address - [Manage your service area (Google Business Profile Help)](https://support.google.com/business/answer/9157481?hl=en-GB) up to 20 service areas, about two hours' drive - [Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help)](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en-GB) relevance, distance and prominence; no paying for ranking - [Using Call diversion to forward calls (BT Business)](https://business.bt.com/help/article/using-call-diversion-to-forward-calls/) calls not answered within 15 seconds - [Central Digital Platform factsheet (Cabinet Office, GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-act-2023-short-guides/central-digital-platform-factsheet-html) Find a Tender launched 24 February 2025, free to use - [Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards (Department for Transport)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-standards/statutory-taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-standards) section 6.1 enhanced DBS and barred lists; section 8.2 outsourcing and safeguarding - [DBS reduces fees for checks and Update Service from 5 October 2026 (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dbs-reduces-fees-for-checks-and-update-service-from-5-october-2026) enhanced check £41 - [Equality Act 2010, section 170 (legislation.gov.uk)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/170) assistance dogs in private hire vehicles - [Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998, section 31 (legislation.gov.uk)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/34/section/31) prohibition of certain advertisements - [Transport Act 1980, section 64 (legislation.gov.uk)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/34/section/64) roof signs on vehicles other than taxis - [Licensing conditions for a private hire operator licence (Woking Borough Council)](https://www.woking.gov.uk/business-licences-permits/licences-permits/taxi-private-hire-licences/step-by-step/apply-renew-private-hire-operator-licence-step-step/licensing-conditions-private-hire-operator-licence) no "taxi" or "cab" in advertising, stationery or business names - [Environmental Protection Act 1990, Schedule 3A (legislation.gov.uk)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/schedule/3A) free distribution of printed matter on designated land - [Electronic mail marketing (ICO)](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/electronic-and-telephone-marketing/electronic-mail-marketing/) consent and the soft opt-in Dispatch AI is a trading name of CABO TECH SOLUTION AI LTD, registered in England and Wales, company no. 16255667.