How Mileage and Fares Are Calculated
In Road XS, we calculate the mileage by taking the fastest route. We do this because it ensures passengers can reach their destination as quickly as possible.
Car Scheme
For a car scheme, for one passenger we calculate the mileage as follows:
- the driver's house
- to the passenger pickup
- to the passenger drop-off
- back from the passenger drop-off
- to the original passenger pickup
- back to the driver's house
Dial a Ride and Group Travel
For these types of journeys, we calculate the mileage from the start point and then right back to the final endpoint of the trip.
How We Calculate the Automated Fares
For calculating fares, we round up to the nearest 50p. This is to avoid passengers having to deal with loose change such as 1p and 5p pieces.
We round down and up to the nearest mile. For example:
Up to 0.4 of a mile, we round down to the nearest mile. 0.5 of a mile and above, we round up to the nearest mile.
So, to put this in the context of a journey:
A journey which is 1.4 miles would be considered a 1-mile journey, while a journey of 1.5 miles would be considered 2 miles.
For fare calculation, we use actual mileage without rounding up or down. So 1.1 gets considered as 1.1 miles. However, on the journey overview screen, we only display 1 mile for a cleaner look.
This approach ensures that drivers are fully compensated, and the fares round up to manageable numbers for the passengers. It also means that when communicating with passengers, you can speak clearly about the mileage of a trip.
Instead of saying "that will be 1.6 miles," you can simply say "your trip will be 2 miles."
The Total Fare Consists of: (Journey Mileage) + (Admin Fees)
Let's examine this in the context of a real-world example below:
Real-World Example:
Let's imagine a journey is 3.5 miles at 45p a mile and an admin fee of £2.
Based on how we calculate the fares, the total fare for this journey would be £4.
This breaks down as follows:
3.5 miles x 0.45p = 1.575
Then we add the £2.00 (admin fee) = £3.575
TOTAL FARE: £4.00 (rounded up to the nearest 50p)