One dispatcher, three jobs
In a small taxi company, the person on the phone is often the person on the radio and also the person watching the board. When a driver calls in at the same moment a customer rings, something has to wait. Usually it is the customer.
Ride requests are not like most calls. The person is standing on a curb, outside a bar or at an arrival gate. They are not leaving a voicemail and they are not waiting through ten rings. They call the next number they find.
An AI chatbot on your website and an AI receptionist on your phone line do not replace dispatch. They catch the calls dispatch cannot take and put the details in writing.
What the chatbot does on your website
Anchor Co AI trains a chatbot on your own website. It answers from what you have already published, so it only repeats what you have said. For a taxi company, that usually means:
- Where you go. The towns, neighborhoods and airports you list as your service area.
- When you run. Your hours and whether you list late-night or early-morning service.
- How to request a ride. The phone number, the process, and what dispatch needs from a caller.
- Fares you publish. A rate card or flat fare, if it is on your site. If it is not, the chat says so rather than guessing.
When a visitor asks something your site does not cover, the chatbot says it is unsure and takes a message.
What the AI receptionist does on the phone
The Front Office plan adds an AI phone receptionist for the calls you miss. It answers, says it is an AI, and takes the caller's name, number and what they need, including the pickup address if they give it. A summary is emailed to you so dispatch can call back.
It does not dispatch a car, connect to your dispatch software, take payment or send text messages. It answers and writes down the request. Your team confirms the ride.
Use cases a taxi company will recognize
The closing-time wave. Ten calls in five minutes, and your dispatcher can take three. The rest are answered and recorded instead of ringing out.
The airport pickup request. A traveler checks your website the night before a 5am flight and asks whether you serve the airport. The chat answers from your service area and offers to take a callback request.
The "do you come out here?" call. A caller in a neighboring town wants to know if you cover their address. The AI answers from the service area on your site.
The overnight voicemail you never listen to. Instead of a recording nobody checks until morning, you get an email with a name, a number and a pickup request.
Objections you should expect
"People want a person." They do, and they get one when dispatch calls back. The AI is there so the request is acknowledged and recorded, not lost.
"It will give out wrong fares." It answers from your website. If you publish a rate card, it repeats it. If you do not, it says it is unsure and takes a message. The practical way to keep it accurate is to keep your website accurate.
"I already have an answering service." Many companies do. The difference is price and format: an AI receptionist is month to month with no overage fees, and the request arrives as an email.
"What if it cannot handle something?" It tells the caller it is unsure and takes a message. It is not a replacement for 911 or for your dispatch line.
What it costs
The Free plan is $0 with 1 bot and 20 messages a month. Starter is $29 a month for 2 bots and 1,000 messages a month. Growth is $49 a month for 5 bots and 5,000 messages a month.
Front Office adds a website and the AI phone receptionist. It is $297 one-time setup, then $249 a month with the receptionist, including 300 answered phone minutes a month and no overage fees. It is month to month with no contract and no partial-month refunds.
We do not promise rides, revenue or rankings. What you are buying is that more of the calls and messages that already reach you get acknowledged and recorded.
Setup
- Point the chatbot at your website. It trains on your own pages, so clear service-area, hours and fare pages make for better answers.
- Ask it the questions callers ask and tighten your pages where it comes back unsure.
- Add the chat to your site. For phone coverage, forward your overflow or after-hours calls to the AI receptionist and give it the email address where summaries should go.