Everything, in the Open
How we verify partners, route leads, rank listings, calculate fares, handle reviews, and protect your data — written plainly, with nothing hidden.
Live platform numbers
Counted live from our database — partners, cities, completed trips and review averages. This is the only page on Local Taxi that surfaces platform-wide trust figures; individual partner pages show their own listing data only.
🤝 Our Promises to Travellers #
Six commitments we hold ourselves to — every page, every partner, every booking.
You always see the price first
The fare you see is the partner's fare. On an instant booking the advance payable now and the balance due are shown before you pay; no surge loading, and any future platform fee would appear as a separate line item.
Every partner is manually verified
We check business registration, vehicle RC, insurance, permits, and driver licences before issuing the ✓ badge.
Reviews are from real trips only
Reviews are tied to verified contact events or completed bookings. We do not buy, sell, or fabricate ratings.
Direct contact, no middleman
Call or WhatsApp the partner straight from their listing. We do not gate, mask, or charge for contact.
WhatsApp routing is opt-in
Partners must opt-in before we route enquiries to them. If no partner is opted-in for a query, it goes to our central team — never to a random number.
No paid map APIs, no tracking ads
We use open mapping (OSM/Leaflet) and do not run third-party ad networks that profile you.
✅ How We Verify Partners #
A 5-step manual check — no auto-approvals, no self-certification.
- Business identity — GST/PAN/Proprietorship proof or Union membership for individual drivers.
- Vehicle documents — Registration Certificate (RC), commercial permit, fitness, and pollution certificate for every listed vehicle.
- Insurance — Valid third-party and (where applicable) passenger insurance.
- Driver credentials — Commercial driving licence and badge for each listed driver.
- Contactability check — Live call/WhatsApp verification of the phone number that will appear on the listing.
Listings without a complete check get a Listed badge only. The green Verified ✓ badge is reserved for partners who clear all five steps. Verification is re-checked annually and any time documents expire.
📨 How Your Enquiry Reaches a Partner #
One rule, simple and public: first-come-first-serve. No scoring, no auctions, no paid queue-skipping.
📣 Broadcast
The moment you submit, your enquiry is sent to every verified partner who covers the pickup city and serves the requested trip type. Everyone sees it at the same instant.
🥇 First to accept wins
The first partner to tap Accept in their inbox locks the trip — an atomic database update prevents double-booking. Everyone else sees "Taken".
⚖️ No favourites
Every partner — veterans and newcomers — receives the lead at the same millisecond. Responsiveness is the only thing that gets you the trip.
We never sell your number. Your contact details are only shared with the partner who accepts your enquiry. If no partner accepts in a reasonable window, we fall back to platform WhatsApp support.
🧮 How Fare Estimates Are Calculated #
The exact formula we use — no black box.
Estimated Fare = (Platform Base Rate × Vehicle Multiplier × Distance KM) + Partner Overrides
- Platform base rate — A published per-km rate set by Local Taxi (visible on every fare page).
- Vehicle multiplier — Sedan 1.0x, SUV 1.3x, Innova 1.5x, Tempo Traveller 1.8x, Luxury 2.0x.
- Distance — Route distance in kilometres.
- Partner overrides — Partners can adjust their own price up or down. The partner's final price is what you pay.
Estimates exclude state tolls, parking, night charges (10pm–6am), and driver allowance for multi-day trips — these are disclosed by the partner before you confirm. Surge pricing is not used, ever.
⭐ Reviews — What's Allowed, What's Not #
- Reviews can be left only by travellers who actually contacted or booked the partner through Local Taxi.
- Partners cannot delete or hide negative reviews. They can publicly reply.
- We remove reviews only when they contain personal data leaks, abuse, or are proven fake — and we log every removal.
- We do not buy, sell, incentivise, or fabricate reviews. We do not accept payment to bury a review.
- The rating you see on a partner is the simple arithmetic average of all approved reviews — no weighting.
🔒 Your Data — What We Collect & Why #
- Enquiry data (name, phone, trip details) — shared only with the partner who receives your enquiry. We never sell it.
- Browsing data — Basic analytics to improve the site. No third-party advertising trackers, no fingerprinting.
- Location — Only when you click "Near Me", and only for that session. Not stored.
- Account data — Stored in our own database, never exported to data brokers.
- Data wipe — Partners and travellers can request a full data wipe from their dashboard at any time.
Full details in our Privacy Policy.
🛡️ Disputes & Safety #
Trip changes are raised with the partner first. For prepaid bookings, refunds are initiated by the Local Taxi team or the taxi partner and processed back through Seraj Tourism / Razorpay to your original payment method — the cancellation window and refund rule that applies to your trip is shown to you at the time of booking. If something is not resolved:
- Raise a dispute from the booking page or by emailing support@localtaxi.in.
- We mediate within 48 hours, using call logs, WhatsApp threads, and trip records.
- Partners with repeated unresolved disputes are de-listed. No exceptions for "featured" status.
Safety incidents (rash driving, misbehaviour, unsafe vehicles) are escalated within 24 hours and trigger an immediate document re-check on the partner.
💸 How Local Taxi Earns #
Said once, said clearly.
- Travellers pay the fare — the partner’s price, with the advance payable now and the balance due always shown before payment. There is no platform charge today; if a platform fee is ever introduced it will be shown as a separate line item before you pay, never added silently.
- Partners pay a small, pre-disclosed commission only when (a) we share a qualified lead, or (b) a booking is confirmed through the platform.
- Commission is paid out of the partner's earnings — never added on top of the traveller's fare.
- Optional premium subscriptions are entirely opt-in. They never reorder verified-vs-unverified, never override quality scores, and never appear on the traveller's invoice.
Spotted something we should be clearer about?
Transparency is a process, not a checkbox. If anything on this page feels vague, tell us — we'll fix the wording.
💳 How payments work — in plain words
Two ways to travel with us: book instantly and pay online, or send a free enquiry. Here is exactly what happens to your money in both cases.
Who processes your payment
Online payments are processed by our payment technology partner Seraj Tourism, through the Razorpay payment gateway. Local Taxi never sees or stores your card, UPI or bank details.
How much you pay now
The advance amount is set by the Local Taxi team and can change at any time. Whatever applies to your trip — the amount payable now and the balance due later — is shown on the checkout screen before you pay anything.
What the price includes
You pay the partner's fare. Local Taxi earns a commission paid by the partner or driver. A platform fee may apply in future; if it ever does, it will appear as a separate line item before payment — never added silently.
Cancellations & refunds
The cancellation window and refund rule that applies to your trip is displayed at the time of booking. Refunds are initiated by the Local Taxi team or the taxi partner and processed back through Seraj Tourism / Razorpay to your original payment method.
Enquiries stay free
Sending an enquiry costs nothing and takes no payment. An enquiry is not a confirmed booking — a trip is confirmed only when you have paid for an instant booking, or a verified partner has accepted your enquiry.
Full details on the Trust & Transparency page.