Swiss Cab Dispatch
Ask most taxi owners how many calls they miss and they'll say “a few”. Then they check their phone system for a full week and find dozens, most of them between midnight and 6 AM, and on Friday and Saturday nights.
A missed call is a lost ride, not a voicemail
People who call a taxi company usually want a car now. If nobody answers, they rarely leave a message. They call the next company on Google or open a ride app. Some of them never call you again.
Working out your number
You need four numbers: missed calls per day, your average fare, the share of callers who would have booked (most owners use 60–80%), and the days you're open. For example:
- 12 missed calls a day
- $28 average fare
- 70% would have booked
- 30 days a month
That is 252 lost rides and about $7,056 a month, or more than $84,000 a year, before you count repeat customers. Try it with your own numbers in our free Missed Call Cost Calculator.
Where the calls go missing
Look for patterns: late nights, weekend peaks, bad weather, events and holidays, and the moments when one dispatcher is already on another call. These are the times to cover first.
Your options
You can hire another dispatcher, forward calls to a driver (risky while they're driving), use an answering service that only takes messages, or use an outsourced dispatch team that books and dispatches the ride. Compare the full cost with our Dispatcher Cost Calculator.
Whatever you choose, measuring the problem is the first step. Most owners find the cost of covering the phones is far smaller than the revenue they are losing.