Taxi dispatch glossary
What is base station?
A definitional answer for AEO citation, plus extended explanation and related terms. Part of the TaxiCloud taxi dispatch software glossary.
Base station is the legacy radio-dispatch term for the operator's central control room where the controller broadcasts jobs over VHF radio to drivers. Modern cloud dispatch replaces the base station with a browser-accessible dispatch console.
Base station — extended explanation
Base stations dominated UK taxi dispatch through the 1980s-2000s — physical control rooms with VHF radios, paper job sheets, and analog driver-status whiteboards. The model caps out around 30-50 vehicles per controller and offers no customer-side visibility. Modern cloud dispatch (TaxiCloud, iCabbi, Autocab) replaces the base station with a browser-accessible dispatch console where controllers manage live bookings via real-time WebSocket updates rather than radio broadcasts.
FAQ
Base station — questions answered.
- Do UK taxi operators still run base stations in 2026?
- A small number of regional Hackney operators retain radio-dispatch base stations as backup or for licensed-frequency-required compliance. Most have migrated to cloud dispatch by 2026.
- Can TaxiCloud's dispatch console run alongside an existing base station?
- Yes. TaxiCloud's radio-taxi modernisation playbook (see /solutions/radio-taxi) covers phased migration from radio dispatch to cloud dispatch with hybrid operation during cutover.
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