Russian version of the article is available here
A customer may have an extra agenda to attend to en route from A to B pre planned even before the trip.
In our platform this is covered by the option to add intermediate stops for trips. The feature is handy as:
a driver may plan order route in advance
the system provides trip cost calculation and route from A to B with the account of intermediate drop-offs
an extra drop-off is a sort of “stop-watch” which locks taxi meter without discontinuing the order
Intermediate stops are added at the stage of "New order" generation.
A maximum of 3 intermediate drop-offs can be added one by one.
Customer app order with multiple drop-off :
Operator app order with multiple drop-off :
The number of Intermediate drop-offs is fixed from the moment the booking is sent into auto search and not editable since then.
A driver may review additional drop-offs for orders on the "New offer" screen.
A driver has to swipe to confirm arrival to the intermediate drop-off and “Swipe to move to next point” following the same logic till the end of the trip.
There is no time limit of “standby mode” at the intermediate drop-off. The trip is “on hold” until the driver swipes to resume it. This is, of course, unless the order expires due to connection loss/internet issue/etc.
Additional drop-offs are aimed at pre-setting en-route stops for a customer. They can be used to drop off co-travelling customers. However, the trip cost is to be covered at the end of the trip by the customer who placed the booking. Ride-sharing is not integral within our platform.
Trip cost calculation for orders with intermediate drop-offs is similar to that of regular trips with A to B routes. It is based on an optimal route provision by Google for the whole trip with the inclusion of extra drop-offs, i.e.:
fixed cost for multiple drop-off trips is set from the moment the route is calculated before dispatching the order and stays fixed regardless of route or time on the ride.
final cost for multiple drop-off taximeter trips (estimated cost trips) is based on the total sum of calculations in between all stops en-route.
Intermediate drop-offs (addresses) are logged in:
- recent jobs receipts in Customer and Driver apps
- trip summary sent to all parties (if profiles have verified emails)
- operator app order log
- order details in Order reports will show the number of intermediate drop-offs for the trip if included (for ex: 2)