What running transport here actually costs
Written for the people who carry the problem: transport desks, admin heads and fleet owners. Specific to India, specific to the corridors we work in, and free of the vendor filler that makes most of this material useless.
- Running a fleet
Why good drivers leave, and what actually keeps them
Driver churn is rarely about the rate. The five reasons drivers leave Indian fleets, ranked by how often we see them, and what each one costs to fix.
- Starting out
What breaks when a taxi fleet passes twenty vehicles
Growth does not break the fleet, it breaks the coordination. The four things that stop working between fifteen and forty vehicles, and what each one needs.
- Running a fleet
The driver payout statement that stops arguments
Most payout disputes are transparency disputes, not money disputes. What a driver should be able to see, and the format that ends the monthly argument.
- Compliance
Vehicle log book: what to record and why
The log book is the only record that proves what a vehicle did. The fields worth keeping, the three that settle disputes, and why paper logs fail at scale.
- GST & billing
Taxi bill format: what a GST invoice must carry
Every field a cab service invoice needs to be accepted by a client's finance team, why each one is there, and the five omissions that get invoices sent back.
- Running a fleet
Electric taxis: the economics operators actually face
EVs cut running cost per kilometre and change almost everything else. Where they work today for Indian fleets, where they do not, and how to test it on two cars.
- Running a fleet
Own fleet or attached vehicles: which model to grow on
Owning ties up capital and gives you control. Attaching frees capital and costs you control. How Indian operators choose, and the hybrid most land on.
- Starting out
What a taxi app actually costs to build
The quote you get for a taxi app covers version one. Here is what the second year costs, the seven things quotes leave out, and when building is still right.
- Running a fleet
What a kilometre actually costs you
Nine costs go into a kilometre and most operators price against three. How to build a defensible cost per km, and why it is always higher than you think.
- Compliance
The document that expires while nobody is looking
Permit, fitness, insurance and licence run on four cycles. Across thirty vehicles that is 155 dates — and the lapse is always found at the worst moment.
- Running a fleet
How to win your first corporate transport contract
What procurement actually asks a transport vendor, the four documents that decide whether you are shortlisted, and why the cheapest quote usually loses.
- GST & billing
Duty slip vs trip sheet: what a corporate client checks
The document that settles corporate billing disputes: the eight fields a client’s finance team checks, and why reconstructing it at month end defeats it.
- Employee transport · Bengaluru
What employee transport costs per head in Bangalore
Why ORR and Whitefield night drops cost more per employee than anywhere in India, and the four numbers a Bangalore transport desk needs before renewal.
- Compliance
All India Tourist Permit vs state permit: which do you need?
The permit decision that shapes what work an Indian taxi operator can legally take: what each covers, and the questions to settle before buying a vehicle.
- Running a fleet
Driver batta: what to pay, and how to record it
Driver allowance is the most disputed number in an Indian fleet. How to set the rule, when it should trigger, and why recording it per trip ends the argument.
- Running a fleet
Aggregator commission vs running your own booking app
What an aggregator commission really costs a local operator over a year, what your own app replaces, and the honest case for staying where you are.
- Compliance
Aggregator guidelines: what a local taxi operator must know
India’s aggregator guidelines changed what an operator running their own booking app must do. What they cover, and how to check whether they apply to you.
- Drop taxi & outstation
One-way fare calculation: the four charges operators forget
How drop taxi and outstation fares are really built: distance slab, driver batta, tolls and the empty return leg that quoting per kilometre never covers.
- Starting out
How to start a taxi business in India: the honest version
What it actually takes to start a cab business in India — permits, vehicles, drivers and pricing — and the four mistakes that close operators in year one.
- Employee transport · Chennai
What employee transport actually costs per head in Chennai
What companies on OMR and around Oragadam pay per employee per month for staff transport, the four things that move the number, and where the budget quietly leaks.
- GST & billing
GST on employee transport: what finance teams get wrong
Place of supply, reverse charge, SAC 996412 and why a single invoice must never mix tax treatments. A plain-language guide for transport desks and their accountants.
- Compliance
Night shift cab rules for women employees: what to evidence
What employers running night-shift transport in India are generally expected to provide, and the six records you should be able to produce months after the journey.