Eko Taksi, a taxi platform in Burgas: passenger app, driver app and dispatcher control panel

Eko Taxi has been a taxi company in Burgas since 2001. Bookings come in through the dispatch number 056 51551, and the company also operates from Burgas Airport: city rides by the meter and transfers to the resorts at a fixed price.

The platform carries the “Eko Taxi” brand and belongs entirely to the company: it owns the code, data and brand, with no commission per ride and no vehicle licence. It has four parts: a passenger app, a driver app, a dispatch console connected to the telephone system, and in-app card payments.

The passenger app. The map of Burgas uses the brand colours and centres on the user’s GPS location; the pickup address is filled in automatically and can be corrected manually or by moving the map. The fare appears as soon as there is a destination, according to Eko Taxi’s tariff: daytime €1.53 starting fare and €0.77 per kilometre, nighttime €1.74 and €0.87, with no booking fee. The tariff is selected based on the time in Burgas, regardless of the phone’s time zone.

Transfers from Burgas Airport use a fixed price from the company’s price list, based on the number of passengers: 4+1 car, 6+1 car or 8+1 minibus. The passenger enters the flight number, the number of passengers up to 30, and whether a child seat is needed. The green 51551 button calls the dispatcher directly from the screen.

When the car comes within 300 m, the phone receives a notification, and the app shows the car on the actual streets leading to the address. If the address is on a pedestrian street, the car stops on the nearest street accessible by car, and the app shows which street it is and how many metres the passenger needs to walk. The passenger’s number remains hidden from the driver: the call is routed through the platform.

The app is built with React Native and Expo for Android and iPhone under the Eko Taxi name. Updates reach users’ phones over the air, without a new file being uploaded to the store.

The dispatch console shows a live map of all vehicles by status, a queue of bookings from the app, and a manual booking option for phone calls, including rides without a specified destination. An incoming call from the telephone system opens the customer’s profile and recent addresses, while call recordings are stored in the console. A booking entered by a dispatcher goes to the first car in the zone’s queue, while an app booking goes to the nearest available car; the driver can decline it, and the booking moves to the next car. The driver app runs on the company’s tablets and includes shift management, a queue, incoming bookings with a countdown, navigation, statuses and today’s rides. Card payments are processed through Stripe, and the driver receives the money from their rides in their own account.

Addresses and history from the previous system are migrated, dispatchers and drivers are trained, and the telephone system is transferred last to avoid disrupting operations.