Taxi Booking for WordPress
- Details
- Written by M. Kanev
- Last Updated: 02 August 2024
- Created: 18 April 2020
- Hits: 8626
Taxi Booking for WordPress is a plugin that enables you to publish and operate a complete distance booking service on your WordPress website.
It works well for any distance booking service (price per mile/kilometre) as well as Fixed fare routes.
Here are the details about its installation, setup, integration on your website and operation of your services.
Get Taxi Booking for WordPress
First, you will have to install the plugin as any normal WordPress plugin.
Then go to your back end > Taxi Booking screen (the link to Taxi Booking will show in the sidebar after you install the plugin).
Click on Settings > General settings.
Select Distance unit: Mile or Kilometre
Booking allowed after (hours): XX - this option will allow bookings after the set amount of hours. Bookings prior to this will not be allowed.
Date format: European or American
Time Format: 12 or 24 hours
Load Current Date: Yes/No - if set to Yes the current user's date and time will be automatically pre-loaded.
Show Adult Seats: Yes/No - with this option you can hide the Seat selection but the below option has to be different than 0.
Default Adult Seats: XX - set over 0 if you would like to hide Seat selection or the system will not work.
Show Suitcase drop-down: Yes/No - show or hide the Suitcase dropdown selection
Enable Captcha: Yes/No
reCaptcha site key - if you enable the captcha above you will need to provide your reCaptcha site key here.
Download ID: - your Download ID can be found at kanev.com > Login > User menu > My Downloads - across the top of the page. Add it here so you can use the one-click Live update option when we release a new version.
Save after you are done.
General Price Settings.
Show Prices: Yes/No - you may wish to run a Request quote system with no price calculation. Set this option to No in this case.
Auto Approve Free Order: Yes/No - if the above option is set to No then with this option you will change the order status from Waiting to Accepted automatically.
Debug Price Calculation: Yes/No - very useful function to see your prices at the front end. It will be available only for logged-in Admins under each car in the second step of the booking process. Logged-in users will not see the Price calculation.
Round up Price?: No/Whole Number (0.49 and less is rounded down, 0.51 and more is rounded up)/Nearest 5 upwards (11 will become 15, 16 will become 20 etc.)
Currency: Select your country's currency from the dropdown.
Currency Symbol - type in your currency symbol
Currency symbol position: Before the amount/After the amount
Save after you are done.
Map Settings.
Show map on Address search: Yes/No - show or hide the Google map at the front end.
Map Height (px) - the width will be automatic but you can specify the height of the map.
Map Zoom - zoom level of the Google map.
API Browser Key - you will need to get and provide a Google map Browser key.
API Server Key - you will need to get and provide a Google map Browser key.
Read more about how to get and provide your Google maps API keys here.
API Avoid: Ferries/Highways/Tolls - you can choose to avoid any of the selected.
Save after you are done.
Base Settings.
Default Country - select your country from the Dropdown. This choice will limit the Address auto-suggest of the booking form to the selected country only. If you would like to allow Address search in more than one country then leave this option to "All countries".
Default City - type in the main city of your operation. This will move the Area of operation drawn on the map to your city and you can change the area of operation by dragging the round circles to expand or contract the area.
Booking notification email - type in the email where you want to receive notifications for new bookings.
Area of operation - move the polygon on the map to cover your area of operation. This area is for all of your cars. A similar option exists for each vehicle in your fleet. This area of operation is further tuned by the options below.
Pickup in Area: Yes/No - if you select Yes then the Pickup will only be allowed for addresses within the area above.
Drop off in Area: Yes/No - if you select Yes then the Drop off will only be allowed for addresses within the area above.
Both pick-up and drop-off in Area: Yes/No - If set to Yes then both pickup and drop-off have to be existing addresses within the area of operation.
Base Latitude - type in the Latitude coordinate of your base of operation. This is very helpful if you would like to set the "Dead mileage" calculation from your Base to pick up and from drop off back to the base.
Base Longitude - type in the Longitude coordinate of your base of operation.
Get Coordinates - this is a dynamic link and when clicked it will show an address pin in the middle of the area of operation. Move the pin to the correct address and the Latitude and Longitude will be automatically populated for you.
Base to Pick up calculation?: Yes/No - this option tells the system to calculate or not "Dead mileage" from your base to the pick-up address.
If you select Yes above a new option will show:
Base to Pick up charge: Flat rate/Per unit distance - with this option you set how much you charge for the distance from your base to the pick-up address.
Value - if you have selected the Flat rate above the value will be a flat amount added to the total. If you have selected Per unit distance above the value will be a price per mile/kilometer.
Drop off to Base?: Yes/No - this option tells the system to calculate or not "Dead mileage" from the drop off to your base.
If you select Yes above a new option will show:
Drop off to Base charge: Flat rate/Per unit distance - with this option you set how much you charge for the distance from the drop off to your base.
Value - if you have selected the Flat rate above the value will be a flat amount added to the total. If you have selected Per unit distance above the value will be a price per mile/kilometer.
Add time after each booking (minutes) - with this option you can add extra time after each booking for things like car cleaning, driver rest, restocking, etc.
Save after you are done.
Order Email Settings
Header logo > Upload image button - here you can upload your logo that will be added to the body of your Order notification emails to the customer.
Use SMTP: Yes/No
If Yes is selected you will see the following fields:
SMTP Host: type in the SMTP host of your email-sending server. Ask your website/email admin if you are not sure.
SMTP Security: None/SSL/TLS - ask your website/email admin if you are not sure.
SMTP Port: Ask your website/email admin if you are not sure.
SMTP Authentication: Yes/No - Ask your website/email admin if you are not sure.
SMTP Username: type the username of your SMTP email inbox.
SMTP Password: type the password of your SMTP email inbox.
From Email Address: type the email address that you want to be displayed in the From field of outgoing emails from Taxi Booking.
Send test - use this option to test if email sending is working with the above SMTP settings.
Header info - a text area where you can add static information about the order like your company name, address, phone number, etc.
Footer info - a text area where you can add static information to the customer like instructions, short terms, and conditions, a link to your website, etc.
Save after you are done.
Terms Settings
Use Terms and Conditions: Yes/No - with this setting you publish or unpublish the Terms and Conditions checkbox and link to the text at the front-end booking form.
Terms and conditions info - text area for your Terms and conditions and Privacy policy text.
Save after you are done.
Design Settings
Cars default display: Grid/List - the front end Search results display of the vehicles.
Highlights - color picker for the highlighted colors of the booking form like headers, buttons, etc. You can select a color to match your theme here.
Show Map in Popup: Yes/No - if you set this to Yes then a button View map will show under pick up and drop off address selection of your booking form and the customer will see the route on the map only if they click on the View map button. This option reduces the calls to Google Maps API.
If you set Show Map in Popup: No 2 new options will appear:
Show Map on desktop devices: Yes/No - if you select Yes the Google map will show on the right side of your booking form on wider screen devices like desktops and larger tablets and will show the route between pick up and drop off automatically.
Show Map on mobile devices: Yes/No - if you select Yes the Google map will show under your booking form and will show the route between pick up and drop off automatically.
Save after you are done.
Get Taxi Booking for WordPress
Go to Payment methods
Click on Add new
In the Payment Method information tab you will see:
Title * - the name of the payment method as your customers will see it in the front-end booking form and notification emails.
Payment Method - a dropdown with all available payment methods on the system. If you are creating a new payment method you have to select one from the dropdown and Save it to activate it before you can Configure it. Select Cash
Published: Yes/No - with this option you can temporarily unpublish a payment method without deleting it.
Description - a text field where you can describe the payment method for your customers.
Click on Save and then on Edit to finish the Configuration.
In the Configuration tab you will see:
Minimum Amount - enter a minimum amount for which you want this payment method to be available. If you leave empty or 0 the payment method will be available for any amount.
Maximum Amount - same as above but for a maximum amount that this payment method will be available.
Fee per transaction - a flat rate fee that will be added to the total of any booking.
TAX in % - here you can add any sales tax in percentage to the total amount.
Default Order Status - Waiting/Accepted/Rejected/Archived - the default status for new orders.
Waiting - payment isn't finished or you are not sure if you can take this booking, you can Reject it at any time by changing the order status manually and an automatic email will be sent to the customer.
Accepted - you skip the Waiting status of an order and automatically Accept all orders regardless of payment status.
Rejected - unlikely to use this option but you have it anyway, this will make the booking Rejected automatically.
Archived - this order status is for old orders.
Save after you are done.
Create the PayPal payment method by clicking on the "Add new" button
You will see the same as the above options in the Configuration tab as well as these PayPal-specific fields:
Sandbox (test): Yes/No - if Yes is selected then this payment method will only operate in test mode. Please note that Sandbox (test) PayPal email is different from the Live PayPal email.
PayPal payment email: type your PayPal email address where you receive payments.
Merchant Sandbox email: type the Sandbox (test) email from PayPal's test/developer environment.
Deposit (%) - with this option you can select to charge only a % of the whole order and process the rest of the payment at a different time by different means.
Stripe online payment method for Taxi Booking for WordPress is a separate plugin.
Get Stripe for Taxi Booking for WordPress here.
Install as a normal WordPress plugin and activate.
You will see Taxi Booking Stripe in the left-hand admin menu area. You can click on Settings to add your Download ID and get one-click Live updates of the plugin.
Now Go to Taxi Booking > Payment methods and click on the "Add new" button.
Type the Title of the plugin as you want your customers to see it at the front end (eg. Credit/Debit cards via Stripe).
Select "Stripe" in the dropdown and "Save".
Click on the payment method again to edit it - you will now see all Stripe options in the Configuration tab.
Follow the instructions on the screen to finish the setup process.
Save again.
You can now accept payments via credit and debit cards directly on your website.
Create your first Vehicle by going to Taxi Booking > Vehicles > Add new
Custom fields - use this section to create Custom fields to collect more information or upsell services and products with your booking form. You can read more about Custom fields here.
POI Categories - in this section we have included some pre-defined point of interest categories: Airports, Cruise ports, Hotels, Train stations, Landmarks, and Postcodes. You can modify or add your own categories. Click on Add new, set a Title, upload an icon, and add Description. Then Save and you will be able to group Points of Interest to this POI Category. Note: POI Categories are useful in conjunction with Custom fields because you can assign 1 custom field to all points of interest that belong to the same POI Category eg. Flight number will be shown for all airports.
Points of Interest - Description here
Fixed fare routes - Description here
Translations - here you can translate Taxi Booking in any language but also you can search for English texts that you would like to change. Just click on the text in the right-hand side column and replace it with your chosen text. Click on Save and the new text will be available immediately.
DriveNot network - fill in a simple form to apply for your company to be included in the DriveNot.com review and rating for the transportation industry website. Your customer will automatically get a request for review email when their order has been archived. This is a great way not only to get real feedback and showcase your services to the world but also to get a great SEO boost for your website.
Manage car settings - go to the back end Taxi Booking > Vehicles
Click on "Add new" to create a Car that belongs to your fleet.
Type in a Title that will be easily recognised by your booking form visitors eg. Sedan
Fill in the rest of the information relevant to your car and "Save"
Frequently Asked Setup Questions:
How to set up Night tariffs in Taxi Booking for WordPress?
To have a night tariff from 10 pm (22:00) to 6 am (06:00) you have to create 2 additional cars so there are 3 cars with different Car availability:
1. from 6 am (or whatever time your night tariff ends) to 10 pm
2. from 10 pm (22:00) to 11:55 pm (23:55) because the day ends at 00:00.
3. from 00:00 to 6 am (06:00) - because this is a new day.
Get Taxi Booking for WordPress