One Engine.
Five Pricing Models.
Total Control.
No two transport markets are the same. A taxi company in Mumbai prices by meter. A zone-based operator in Nairobi sets fixed fares between areas. A UK private hire company charges by distance with a night surcharge. A festival shuttle needs surge pricing triggered by demand.
Yelowsoft's pricing engine doesn't force you into one model. You define how fares are calculated — by choosing the model that fits your market and configuring it exactly as your operation requires. Switch models by vehicle type, city zone, time of day, or booking type. The engine handles the rest.
// PRICING_ENGINE.MODELS [ ]
Distance Price
Fare calculated proportionally to the distance travelled. The most universal taxi pricing model worldwide.
Range Based Price
Fixed fare slabs assigned to defined distance ranges. Simple, predictable, dispute-proof pricing.
Meter Price
Time + distance combined pricing that digitally replicates traditional taxi meter fare logic — fully configurable.
Zone Wise Price
Fixed fares assigned to every origin-zone → destination-zone pair. Perfect for structured markets with predictable routes.
Surge Price
Demand-triggered price multiplier that layers on top of any base model. Maximise revenue when demand outstrips supply.
All Five Models — How Each Works
Click any model to expand the full explanation, fare formula, configuration options, and the operator types it best suits.
How Distance Pricing Works
Distance pricing is the bedrock of taxi fare calculation globally. The customer pays a base fare to get in the vehicle, then a per-kilometre (or per-mile) rate for every unit of distance covered. Additional components — waiting time charges, night surcharges, toll recovery, and vehicle class differentials — layer on top of the base formula.
This model gives operators maximum transparency: customers understand what they're being charged, and drivers have no ambiguity about how their fare is calculated. It's ideal for city taxi operations, ride-hailing, and private hire where trips vary significantly in length.
Fare Formula
Total = Base Fare + (Distance × Per Km Rate) + (Wait × Per Min Rate) + Extras
Best Suited For
- → City taxi and private hire operators with variable trip lengths
- → Ride-hailing platforms where distance determines most of the fare
- → Multi-vehicle-class operations (different per-km rates per vehicle type)
- → Operators who want full pricing transparency for customers
- → Markets where customers are accustomed to meter-equivalent digital pricing
// Configurable Parameters
Vehicle Class Overrides
How Range Based Pricing Works
Instead of calculating fare by the exact kilometre, range-based pricing divides the total possible trip distances into bands — and assigns a fixed fare to each band. A trip of 0–5km costs ₹80. A trip of 5–10km costs ₹140. A trip of 10–20km costs ₹240. And so on.
This approach eliminates customer anxiety about fare accuracy — they know upfront what bracket their trip falls into and the exact price. It also simplifies driver operations significantly and removes almost all fare disputes. It's particularly powerful in markets where customers are suspicious of real-time calculations or where regulatory bodies require fixed-fare transparency.
Fare Formula
Total = Fixed Slab Fare where distance falls within [min_km, max_km]
Best Suited For
- → Airport transfer operators offering fixed rates by distance band
- → Markets where customers prefer predictable, pre-stated fares
- → Short-haul city operators with concentrated, similar-length trips
- → Operators in regulated markets requiring fixed-fare transparency
- → Intercity operators with defined route distance bands
// Configurable Parameters
How Meter Pricing Works
Traditional taxi meters charge by a combination of time elapsed and distance covered — whichever is accumulating faster. Yelowsoft's meter pricing model replicates this logic digitally, allowing operators in regulated markets (or those who want meter-equivalent transparency) to run compliant, familiar fare calculation without a physical meter.
The meter model is especially important for operators transitioning from physical meters to digital dispatch — their passengers are already familiar with how the fare accumulates, and their drivers understand the structure. No re-education required. Full regulatory equivalence supported.
Fare Formula
Total = Flag Fall + (Time Rate × minutes) + (Distance Rate × km) + Waiting Charge
Best Suited For
- → Operators transitioning from physical meters to digital dispatch
- → Markets with regulatory meter-equivalent requirements
- → City fleets where traffic conditions make time billing important
- → Operators where slow traffic (waiting in jams) should generate revenue
- → Hybrid operations running both metered and digital bookings simultaneously
// Configurable Parameters
How Zone Wise Pricing Works
Zone-based pricing divides your operational area into geographic zones — city centre, suburbs, airport, industrial areas, business districts — and assigns a fixed fare to every combination of origin zone and destination zone. A trip from Zone A (city centre) to Zone C (airport) always costs ₹450. There is no meter running, no per-km calculation — just a clean, fixed fare both driver and passenger know before the trip starts.
This model is extremely popular in African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian markets where fixed fares between known points are the cultural norm. It eliminates routing manipulation, removes driver-passenger fare disputes entirely, and makes trip cost completely predictable.
Fare Formula
Total = ZoneMatrix[origin_zone][destination_zone] × VehicleClass × TimeModifier
Best Suited For
- → Airport and intercity transfer operators with fixed point-to-point routes
- → Markets where fixed fares between areas are the cultural norm
- → Hotel and hospitality transport with known destination zones
- → Corporate shuttle services with defined pickup and drop zones
- → Operators wanting to eliminate fare disputes and routing concerns entirely
// Configurable Parameters
How Surge Pricing Works
Surge pricing is not a standalone model — it is a multiplier that activates on top of whichever base pricing model you're running. When demand in a specific area or time window exceeds available supply by a configured threshold, the surge engine automatically applies a multiplier to the base fare. Customers see the multiplier before confirming their booking.
Yelowsoft's surge engine can be configured to trigger automatically based on booking volume versus available drivers in a zone, manually by your admin team for known events (festivals, concerts, sports), or on a scheduled basis (rush hour windows, weekend nights). The multiplier, caps, and customer communication are all fully configurable.
Fare Formula
Total = Base_Fare_From_Model × Surge Multiplier [auto | manual | scheduled]
Best Suited For
- → Any operator who wants to capture more revenue during peak demand windows
- → Airport-area operators where flight arrivals create sudden demand spikes
- → Operators serving event venues (concerts, sports, conferences)
- → City taxi fleets wanting rush-hour revenue optimisation
- → Operators who want to use pricing to incentivise driver availability during high demand
// Configurable Parameters
Build Your Pricing Config in Minutes
The pricing engine is designed to be configured by an operator — not by a software engineer. No code, no support tickets. Just a clean admin interface where you define your fare rules.
Choose Your Pricing Model
Select the model that fits your market — distance, range, meter, zone, or a combination. Each vehicle class in your fleet can use a different model independently.
Configure Your Base Parameters
Set base fare, per-km rates, per-minute rates, slab values, or zone matrix fares — depending on which model you've selected. All inputs are plain numbers, no formulas required.
Define Modifiers and Surcharges
Layer on night rates, weekend multipliers, minimum fares, cancellation fees, toll recovery, and waiting charges. Each modifier is a simple rule — active during X hours, apply Y multiplier.
Configure Surge Rules (Optional)
Set surge triggers — automatic based on demand, manual by admin, or scheduled for known peak windows. Define the multiplier range and any zone-specific surge rules independently.
Preview, Test, and Activate
Use the fare preview tool to test your configuration against real trip scenarios before going live. See the calculated fare for any distance, time, and conditions before activating.
// FARE PREVIEW CALCULATOR
Pricing Model
Trip Distance (KM)
Time of Day
Surge Active?
// FARE BREAKDOWN
Which Pricing Model for Which Operation
Different transport verticals have different fare logic needs. Here's how the five models map to real operator types.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Each vehicle class in your fleet can be assigned its own independent pricing model. Your budget hatchbacks can run distance pricing while your premium sedans use zone-based fixed fares — all managed from the same platform.
Yes. You can run different models by vehicle class, by city zone, by booking type (taxi vs rental vs airport), or by time of day. The engine evaluates all applicable rules and applies the correct model to each booking automatically.
Surge is a multiplier that applies on top of whatever base model is active. Whether you're running distance, range, meter, or zone pricing, the surge multiplier multiplies the calculated base fare when triggered. It works with all four base models.
Yes. Minimum fares (floor) and maximum fare caps are configurable per model, per vehicle class, and per zone or slab. A minimum fare ensures short trips are still commercially viable; a fare cap prevents customer complaints on unusually long trips.
Yes. For every pricing model, the customer-facing app shows a fare estimate (or exact fixed fare) before booking confirmation. For distance and meter models, the estimate is based on the entered route. For zone and range models, it's an exact fixed fare.
Zones are drawn directly on a map interface in the admin panel. You draw the boundary of each zone as a polygon, name it, and then fill in the fare matrix for every origin-destination zone pair. No technical skills required.
No. You can create as many distance slabs as your operation requires — from 3 broad bands to 20+ granular ones. Each slab is independently configurable with its own fixed fare, vehicle class overrides, and time-of-day modifiers.
Yes — the fare preview tool lets you input any trip scenario (distance, time of day, surge status, vehicle class) and see the calculated fare before activating. This is specifically designed to prevent accidental pricing errors going live.
Price Your Operation Exactly How You Need To
Book a demo and we'll walk through all five pricing models, show you how to configure your specific operation, and let you test the fare preview calculator with your own real-world scenarios.