# Dispatch AI > Dispatch AI answers a taxi or private hire firm's booking line and books the job when nobody in the office can pick up. It's booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms in the UK. It answers the phone, WhatsApp, texts and emails, books the jobs at the firm's own prices and sends them to the firm's drivers on the firm's own branded app. Dispatch AI is a trading name of CABO TECH SOLUTION AI LTD, registered in England and Wales, company no. 16255667. What works today, in plain words: - An AI phone agent answers the booking line when the office doesn't, quotes the firm's own fixed prices and books the job into the firm's Dispatch AI account. Each phone agent takes up to 10 calls at once; more capacity is available on a higher tier. - It can go on the calls the office can't answer, when the line rings out and overnight, or on the whole booking line. The firm chooses the hours. It works by a call divert on the firm's own line: no new phone system and no new number. - Customers can also book by WhatsApp, text, email, an online booking page or a chat assistant on the firm's website, and every booking lands in one system. - The passenger gets a text and an email to confirm, a secure link to pay by card (the agent never takes card details over the phone), and a live link to track the car. - Jobs go straight to the firm's drivers on its own branded driver app: the firm's name, logo and colours, in the App Store and Google Play once Apple and Google approve it (usually within one to two weeks). - The phone agent and booking are live within 24 hours of getting the firm's zones, prices and driver list, and often within two hours. There's no setup fee. - Dispatch AI is its own dispatch system. It does not connect to other dispatch systems. ## Key pages - [Prices](https://dispatchai.co.uk/prices/): monthly plans by fleet size, billed monthly, 30 days' notice. - [Ring the demo line](https://dispatchai.co.uk/ring-it/): what to try when you ring the test line. - [Free growth audit](https://dispatchai.co.uk/free/growth-audit/): a free 30-minute call with Joe, the founder, for firms with 5 or more cars. - [Your data](https://dispatchai.co.uk/your-data/): what the contract says about the firm's bookings, passengers and drivers. - [Guides](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/): evergreen guides for taxi and private hire firms. - [Free growth check](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/): a few questions about how a firm takes bookings, then what it's missing and what would change it, before any details are asked for. Topic versions: [night calls](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/night-calls/), [busy nights](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/busy-nights/), [night cover](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/night-cover/), [one system](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/one-system/), [own driver app](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/own-driver-app/), [online booking](https://dispatchai.co.uk/start/online-booking/). - [Booking scorecard](https://dispatchai.co.uk/scorecard/): a short self-check on how a firm takes bookings. Every guide is also served as Markdown: add .md to its address (for example https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/ai-taxi-dispatch-system.md), or request the page with Accept: text/markdown. /llms-full.txt has every live guide's short answer in one file. # Guides, in full summary ## AI phone agent for taxi firms: how it answers and books a job https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/ai-phone-agent-for-taxi-firms/ An AI phone agent for taxi firms answers your booking line when the office can't. It asks where, when and how many, quotes the fare from your own price list, reads the booking back, saves it and sends a confirmation. You put it on your number with a call divert: on a standard BT business line, code *61* sends calls not answered within 15 seconds. Anything unusual should come back to a person. ## How to choose the best AI taxi dispatch system in 2026 https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/best-ai-taxi-dispatch-system-2026/ The best AI taxi dispatch system in 2026 is the one that books your callers correctly at your own prices when the office can't answer, writes a booking record your council accepts, puts jobs on a driver app in your firm's name and lets you leave with your data. Test it before you sign: ring the test line at 2am, book on WhatsApp, try an awkward job and read the contract. ## Missed calls in a taxi business: how to work out what they cost you https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/missed-calls-in-a-taxi-office/ To work out what missed calls cost your taxi business, take the missed calls a day that would have been a job, multiply by your average fare, then multiply by 30. That gives you a monthly figure. Count the calls from your phone provider's call log and take the fare from your own booking records, not from memory. ## Private hire dispatch software: what a PHV operator needs https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/private-hire-dispatch-software/ Private hire dispatch software has to follow the PHV rules: every job pre-booked through a licensed operator, a record of each booking made before the journey, only licensed drivers and vehicles on your jobs, and a clear trail for any booking you sub-contract. DfT standards suggest keeping booking records for at least 6 months; London sets 12 months for bookings and for driver and vehicle records. ## Taxi dispatch software in the UK: what it does and what to look for https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/taxi-dispatch-software-uk/ Taxi dispatch software is the system a UK taxi or private hire firm uses to take bookings, price them, give each job to a licensed driver and keep the records the council expects. Outside London, section 56 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 requires a record of every private hire booking before the journey starts, and DfT standards suggest keeping it for at least 6 months. ## What is an AI taxi dispatch system? A plain guide for UK firms https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/ai-taxi-dispatch-system/ An AI taxi dispatch system is booking and dispatch software with an AI layer that takes bookings for you. It answers the phone, WhatsApp, texts and web chat, quotes your fixed prices, saves the booking and passes the job to your drivers. Dispatch AI's phone agent, for example, takes up to 10 calls at once. Your controller still runs the office and deals with anything unusual. ## Google Business Profile for taxi firms: set-up and getting found https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/google-business-profile-for-taxi-firms/ A Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your taxi firm on Google Maps and in local search. Use your real trading name, choose one main category, hide your address if passengers never visit your office, add up to 20 service areas, verify it, then keep your photos, details and reviews current. Google ranks these listings on relevance, distance and prominence. ## How to compete with Uber as a local taxi firm https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-compete-with-uber/ You compete with Uber by winning the work it does badly, not by copying its app. Uber is strong on instant rides in big cities, airport pickups and company travel. A local firm wins on pre-booked work, fixed prices that don't surge, account and school work, wheelchair-accessible cars and a phone that gets answered. In England, 54% of taxis are wheelchair accessible, against 2% of private hire cars. ## How to get more taxi bookings https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-get-more-taxi-bookings/ To get more taxi bookings, start with the calls you already get: missed calls a day that would have been a job, times your average fare, times 30, is what ringing out costs you each month. Then fix your Google Business Profile, ask every passenger for a review, take WhatsApp and website bookings, and win back regulars and local venues. ## How to grow a taxi business: practical ways that work https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-grow-a-taxi-company/ To grow a taxi business, answer more of the calls you already get, then get found on Google, win account, airport and school work, keep your drivers, price every job to pay and track where bookings come from. England had 19,000 licensed private hire operators on 1 April 2026, so the firm that answers and turns up wins the work. ## Winning corporate accounts for a taxi firm https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/winning-corporate-taxi-accounts/ To win corporate taxi accounts, find the person who books travel at each local business, offer them fixed prices, a list of authorised bookers and one monthly statement, and prove you're reliable over a trial month. Check the company on Companies House before you give credit. If you agree no payment date, GOV.UK says a business payment is late 30 days after the invoice or the journey. ## How much does it cost to build an app like Uber? https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/cost-to-build-an-app-like-uber/ Published price guides from December 2025 to September 2026 put the cost to build an app like Uber at about $10,000 to $300,000 or more, depending on scope: passenger app, driver app, dispatch, payments and an admin panel. Running costs come on top (maps, texts, card fees, store fees, updates), and in the UK you also need an operator licence, from £2,000 for five years at TfL with up to 10 cars. ## How to start a ride-sharing app in the UK https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-start-a-ride-sharing-app-uk/ Before you start a ride-sharing app in the UK, decide which kind you're building. If drivers earn from the trips, it's private hire: you need an operator licence, licensed drivers and cars, and hire and reward insurance, and shared rides at separate fares are lawful when every passenger books ahead and agrees to share. If drivers only recover their running costs, agreed before the trip, it's lift sharing. Vehicles carrying 9 or more passengers need a PSV operator licence. ## How to start an Uber-like business in the UK https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-start-an-uber-like-business-uk/ To start a business like Uber in the UK, you become a licensed private hire operator first and build the app second. Outside London you need an operator licence from the council for each area where you take bookings, with drivers and cars licensed by that same council. In London the licence comes from TfL and costs £2,000 for five years for up to 10 vehicles. Every car needs hire and reward insurance. ## Hackney carriage vs private hire: which should you start? https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/hackney-carriage-vs-private-hire/ A hackney carriage can wait at ranks, be hailed in the street and take pre-bookings, but it charges no more than the council's table of fares, and some councils cap the plates (Bristol at 795). A private hire vehicle must be pre-booked through a licensed operator, which sets its own prices. Private hire suits pre-booked work; hackney suits ranks and street work. ## How much does it cost to start a taxi business in the UK? https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/cost-to-start-a-taxi-business-uk/ The cost to start a taxi business in the UK is mostly licence fees and insurance. In our named council examples, a five-year private hire operator licence costs £393 to £2,790, a new driver licence £408 to £463 and a car licence £140 to £269. Our worked example of a two-car firm pays £2,344 in fees before insurance, which one broker puts at £1,200 to £3,000 a car a year. ## How to get a private hire operator licence in the UK https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/private-hire-operator-licence-uk/ A private hire operator licence lets your business take bookings for private hire vehicles. You apply to the council where you'll take bookings (Transport for London in London), pass its fit and proper test with a basic DBS check, and pay its fee. Licences last up to five years. Bristol charges £356 for one year, and TfL £2,000 for five years for up to 10 vehicles. ## How to start a taxi company in the UK: the steps in order https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/how-to-start-a-taxi-company-uk/ To start a taxi company in the UK, choose hackney carriage or private hire work, set up the business, then get an operator licence from your council (TfL in London) plus licensed drivers, licensed vehicles, insurance and a booking record. Operator licences last up to five years. A small firm pays £1,058 for five years in Bristol and £2,000 in London. ## Insurance for a taxi or private hire firm: what you need https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/taxi-business-insurance-uk/ A taxi business needs motor insurance that covers hire and reward work on every licensed car, employers' liability insurance of at least £5 million once it employs staff, and often public liability insurance as a licence condition. Your council checks the motor cover before it licenses a car. Bristol, for example, asks operators with a public waiting area for £5 million of public liability cover. ## Taxi business plan: what to put in it, section by section https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/taxi-business-plan/ A taxi business plan sets out who you'll carry, how bookings will reach you, your licences, fares, costs and how you'll fund the first year. Lenders expect one, and a government-backed Start Up Loan of £500 to £25,000 comes with help to write it. Build yours in eight sections, using your own council's fees and the Department for Transport's licensing figures.