T Dispatch Takes on mytaxi With Free Version of Its TD Software

By David Knight |

Ever since the first taxi app appeared a few years ago, the private hire car industry has been inundated with online services looking to be a part of the newly-disrupted market. That has led to a glut of product offerings, especially in Germany – there’s mytaxi, BetterTaxi, Taxi Berlin and many more.

Now T Dispatch, a London-based startup with its international team located in the German capital, has released a free version of its online dispatch system for taxi and private hire fleets. According to the company, it’s the first time a complete set of booking and dispatching tools has been made available for free on a global scale.

The cloud-based platform is aimed at offering better flexibility and cost savings for cab fleets, with the pared-down free version called TD Light.

Limo, minicab and taxi firms anywhere in the world can create a free account on the website for up to ten drivers, with T Dispatch hoping it will serve as a trial for the full paid-for product, especially for small and new businesses. It is also being pitched as an alternative to P2P taxi apps.

This is where the battle heats up, with mytaxi launching its own dispatch service last year while lashing out at Germany’s “monopolistic taxi companies and taxi associations.”

T Dispatch CEO Bryony Cooper said: “We’ve been working over the past year to identify the core functionalities used by our clients, from independent professional drivers to large taxi fleets. These have been combined to create a user-friendly, streamlined version of our system, which we call TD Light. … We’re really excited to bring our advanced technology to new and smaller fleets, giving them entry-level access to a platform that will help improve their service and allow them to grow.”

The move comes as part of a general trend of online taxi platforms shifting focus to target fleet management and the subsequent scrabble for market share.