Large taxi operators are gradually taking over the market. In many British cities, they have yet to enter. But the client monitors the situation in other cities and understands that if the conditional TW Express enters the territory, he will have a hard time. So I decided to act on the warning. What can Airport Taxi near me compete with besides the cost of the trip? Service.
The client had several ideas for improving the service that needed to be provided by the software package. Unfortunately, the first team he approached didn’t get the job done. Did we turn to a friend – where to get smart progress for the project? And we were recommended to him.
Task number 1 – a taxi order form on the site
PROBLEM
The developers of the complex offered only this option for use on the site: two fields for entering addresses and an “order” button. As a standard application form. Something like this:
The previous developers also thought the same, on which they collapsed. We, in the course of a detailed discussion, found out a lot of non-obvious points. A small web application was meant which there will be:
This was not in the taxi software package in the API. The software package offered:
- server,
- driver app,
- client application,
- control room, etc.
With all the richness of the proposed functionality, it was impossible to fasten a suitable ready-made option. Clients strongly needed this functionality.
All this can be done using the API. But API functions provide separate pieces, and you need to assemble the logic from them. Among other things, you need to display all changes in parallel dynamically. And not only that, the fact is that some functions implemented by us are generally absent in the standard API. I had to sweat a lot.
DECISION
I had to design this web application – the use case is more complex. Not just “scored address 1, scored address 2”.
Firstly, this is the dependence on cities, the search for an order of how it should work, that specific crews should be assigned in different cities, and different prices in different cities.
Secondly, it turns out two status screens – when you order a car and when you have already clicked on the “search for a car” button, then it’s a different screen – all order parameters are displayed, immediately displayed in real-time:
The car is assigned – you must confirm that you saw the notification.
The car pulls up. The driver presses the “I’m here” button.
A notification immediately appears on the site that the Tonbridge Airport Taxi is already in place, and you confirm that you are already leaving.
Moreover, it should work even after closing the tab and re-entering the site, even if there are several tabs at once – the order information should be the same so that you cannot accidentally make several orders from one device or lose an order by closing the browser. The status of the order must be current.
We also added authentication by phone number and connected bonuses.
Task number 2 – Connect online payment
PROBLEM
To increase the loyalty of drivers, we decided to make their life a little easier.
The main inconvenience for drivers was the replenishment of the account through terminals. Because there are only two such devices on average for a conditional British city, this is such a pleasure. And why, if you can accept payments online?
Commission. If you use the solutions of the complex, the payment gateway first takes the percentage of the payment and then the complex itself. It turned out to be very unprofitable.
DECISION
To do this, we have integrated the payment gateway directly through the API – drivers can replenish their accounts through the site without leaving the car. And the fees have gone down.
NARROW PLACES
Most troubles were found in Tunbridge wells. Moreover, these troubles needed to be present in the documentation. For example, the server had to be moved to the Moscow data center for the stable operation of TW since the British response to TW was too long. The bot started talking with long wait errors and crashed. What severe restrictions: from the number of characters in a button to the length of messages.
Conclusion
We have been working with this client for more than two years. We can be proud of this trust. We continue to receive new challenges and are looking for new solutions. What is the secret of successful communication? We identify the need and relevance to the request as much as possible and immerse ourselves in the task. Sometimes, to solve a problem, you need to crawl not only into the head of the client but also into the third-party solutions’ developers.
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