One price to anywhere on the route
Get on at the rank and ride to the end, or get off halfway — past the local distance it is the same fare either way. Say R30 for Midrand to Randburg.
Home / Minibus & bus
Fixed routes, real fares, passengers picked up along the way.
Most people on this continent travel by minibus taxi or bus, not by hailed car. The software for it did not exist, so we built it.
The idea
A route runs one way, and that is what makes it work.
Midrand to Randburg is one route. The way back is another. You list the stops in the order the vehicle reaches them, and the order does the hard part.
A passenger is only ever offered a vehicle whose route reaches their pickup first and their destination after. Somebody travelling the other way simply never sees it, however close that vehicle is standing. Nobody is put on a taxi going the wrong way.
Fares
Priced the way rank fares are really priced
Not a meter. Three prices, exactly as a rank marshal would explain them.
A cheaper price for a short hop
Get off within the distance you set — five kilometres by default — and it is the local fare instead. Say R10. Set it to zero and everyone pays the route fare.
Your own price between two ranks
Where a particular leg has always cost a particular amount, set that amount. It beats both of the prices above, for that leg only.
Two seats, two fares. A passenger booking for three people pays three fares, counted the way a conductor counts them.
On the road
From the rank to the last drop-off
1
The driver takes a vehicle out
They pick the route and confirm how many seats the vehicle has. One route at a time — a driver cannot be on two at once.
2
Passengers take seats
From a list of ranks, or by dropping two pins where they are standing and going. They see the fare, how far they will walk to the road, and which vehicles are still behind them.
3
Seats are held properly
Two people cannot take the same last seat. A cancellation, a no-show or a drop-off gives the seat back to somebody further down the road.
4
A vehicle that has passed you is not offered
The system tracks how far along its own route each vehicle has travelled. Once it is past your stop you stop seeing it, instead of waiting for a taxi that has gone.
5
The driver marks people on and off
Their screen shows who to pick up next, in the order they will reach them, and who is on board in the order they get off — and whether there is cash to collect.
6
Finishing clears the route
When the run ends, nobody is left holding a seat on a vehicle that has gone home.
Paying
Cash or app — decided per route.
A formal rank-to-rank bus can take app payments on the same road where the minibuses will only ever take cash. So the choice sits on the route, not on the company.
- Cash to the driver. Marked paid when the passenger gets off, which is when the driver actually has the money.
- Paid in the app. Into your own merchant account, and the driver's screen says there is nothing to collect.
- Either. Let the passenger choose, and let the driver see which it was.
Who this is for
If you already run vehicles on a route
Taxi associations
Put your existing routes and fares into software without changing how the rank works or who owns the vehicles.
Bus and midibus operators
Scheduled services with proper stations, seat counts and a fare table, plus the option to sell seats in advance.
Staff and school transport
A fixed route, a known list of passengers and a driver who can see exactly who is still to be collected.
Put your routes on the map this week.
Set up one route, one vehicle and one fare, and see how it runs.