The Meter App booking system enables drivers, dispatchers, and riders to request a trip on-demand or reserve in advance, similar to ride-hailing platforms such as Bolt, Uber, and Didi. This feature is available for Meter Fleet customers and Meter Pro users. Fleet bookings are managed through the fleet's dispatch system, while Pro users can create individual bookings directly from the app.

Fleet operators configure Booking Options to define ride types offered. Each option controls:

Riders choose a booking option, not a fare name directly. The fare stays in the background and powers the price for that option.

Example booking options include Standard, XL, Premium, Hourly, and Metered for different service levels.

For a full explanation of how fares and booking options work together, see Fleet Fares.

Important limitation: Booking options apply across all zones with no zone-specific disabling capability.

Fleet operators configure operational hours and days at the booking settings dashboard to control when the fleet accepts bookings. When a rider opens the booking form on a day the fleet is closed, the form automatically selects the next available day and time so the rider can book without needing to manually search for an open slot.

Auto dispatch is on by default. When a booking is ready to dispatch, it goes into the fleet's dispatch queue so available fleet drivers can claim it in the app. This applies to both point-to-point and hourly bookings — if a rider selects "Pickup now" for an hourly booking, the trip is dispatched immediately just like a standard on-demand ride.

Drivers have 60 seconds to accept a dispatch before it expires and moves to the next available driver. If a ride has already been claimed by another driver, any subsequent driver who tries to accept it will see an error message and should choose a different ride instead.

Advanced operators can use zone-based pricing rules to override standard booking option pricing across different operating areas.

Examples include:

Four methods exist for creating bookings:

Meter Pro users can create individual bookings without being part of a fleet. Individual bookings support:

When a rider creates an individual booking, the assigned driver automatically receives a push notification and email with the pickup location and scheduled time. This ensures the driver knows about the booking right away without needing to check the app manually.

Individual bookings use the Pro user's own fares and Meter Pay account for payment processing.

When Meter Pay is enabled, the rider's card is authorized before the trip and captured when the trip is completed. Funds are then distributed through Meter Pay.

For more details about booking payments and payouts, see About Meter Pay.

If a rider has a card saved on file and a fleet member creates a booking that requires payment, the rider can pay with their saved card instead of entering payment details again. When the rider opens the booking page, they see a "Pay with [card]" button showing the last four digits of their saved card. If the rider prefers to use a different card, they can tap "Use a different card" to open the standard payment form instead.

Riders can book up to 90 days in advance.

If the ride is booked within 12 hours of pickup, Meter may try to authorize the card right away. Otherwise, Meter usually attempts authorization during the 12 hours before pickup. If the card still cannot be authorized by about 1 hour before the ride, the booking may be canceled automatically.

Fleet operators can set the cancellation grace period in the fleet's booking settings.

This setting controls how long after the booking is created a rider can cancel without being charged a cancellation fee.

For new fleets, the default cancellation grace period is 12 hours.

When a rider or fleet admin cancels a booking, Meter asks them to select a reason before the cancellation is confirmed. Current options are Just a test, Driver too slow, Got a better price, and Other. The selected reason is saved on the booking so fleet owners can review why bookings are being canceled.

When a prepaid trip is completed, the receipt always reflects the quoted price shown at booking time — regardless of the actual distance or duration recorded during the trip. Toll fees estimated during booking (such as highway or bridge tolls from the route) are automatically included in the final receipt, so riders see the same toll charges from their estimate through to the completed trip.

Metered booking options work like a traditional taxi meter. The rider is charged after the trip ends based on actual distance traveled.

To set up metered rides, create a booking option with the Metered type in Fleet Fares.

In the booking website and in Rider App, riders are required to pre-pay for thier booking before it is submitted for review. Fleet administrators can disable mandatory pre-payment in booking settings for all rider initiated bookings. This applies to all booking types.

When a fleet dispatcher creates a booking on behalf of a client either through Meter App, or in the admin web console, they can choose to request payment or allow the booking without payment.

Fleet admins, owners, and the assigned driver can add discounts to active bookings from the booking details page. Discounts can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the booking total. Each discount can include an optional reason describing why it was applied. Discounts can be removed before the trip is completed. Discount controls are not available on completed or canceled bookings.

Riders can leave a note for their driver when booking a trip. Notes can only be added or edited while the booking is in a pending or confirmed state. Once a trip is in progress, completed, or canceled, the driver note section is no longer available.

Fleet users can view a structured event log on each booking's detail page. Each dispatch event shows notification deliveries with channel information (SMS, Push, Email), per-device delivery status, and content previews. Push notification entries identify the specific device that received (or failed to receive) the notification, including platform details. Fleet admins have access to additional debug information in the event log.

For help with booking address or routing errors, see Why Do I See a Route or Address Error When Booking a Trip?.