The water taxi booking engine for your own website — flat 5%, nothing else.
Your customers land on your site, book, pay, and get a confirmation — all in your branding. Behind the scenes we handle the fares, Stripe payments, refunds, SMS confirmations and 7-day customer support. You just run the boats.
You keep 100% of your fare. We add a flat 5% on top.
Whatever you charge — say $100 for a Rose Bay → Circular Quay run — that's what lands in your bank. The customer pays $105 at checkout, we keep $5, and you're paid the full $100 (plus any after-hours or waiting-time surcharges). No commission taken out of your rate, no setup fee, no monthly fee.
Tailored 100% to your operation. Only your water taxis, only your service area, only your rates. No water limos from other operators, no charter boats, no cross-selling — just your fleet, on your website. If a customer types a pickup outside your area, the widget simply tells them you don't service that route.
Your fleet only
The widget is tuned to your operator key so it only quotes your boats and only routes bookings to your dispatch. No cross-selling to other operators.
One line of HTML
Paste the iframe into your Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify or hand-coded site. Five minutes, no developer required.
Flat 5%, added on top
No setup fee, no monthly fee, no cut of your fare. We add a flat 5% commission on top of whatever you charge — the customer pays it, you get paid your full rate.
What we tailor for each operator
When you come on board we set up an operator key just for you. That key controls exactly what the widget shows on your site:
- Only your water taxis
The widget is locked to your fleet. No water limos, no charter boats, no other operators — just the water taxis you actually run. If a customer wants something you don't offer, they simply won't see it.
- Your service area
Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, Gold Coast, Whitsundays, Lake Macquarie — locked to the waterways you cover so customers never book a trip you can't fulfil.
- Your rates
We load your published fares (or a custom rate card you send us) directly into the fare engine. Zone pricing, hourly rates, minimum charter, after-hours and public-holiday surcharges — all yours.
- Your branding
The embed lives inside your page, framed by your header, footer and colours. Optional white-label so 'Water Taxis Australia' isn't shown at all.
- Optional 'more options' link
If you want, we can add a small link so customers who need a boat you don't run (e.g. a 100-pax charter) can find another operator in our network — completely optional.
What runs behind the widget (all included)
Your customers can install your booking engine straight onto their phone
The widget is delivered as a Progressive Web App (PWA). That's a modern web page that behaves like a real phone app once installed — full screen, its own icon on the home screen, launches in one tap. No App Store submission, no developer account, no $150 a year Apple fee. Nothing to download from Google Play.
- 1.Open your booking page in Safari.
- 2.Tap the Share icon at the bottom.
- 3.Choose Add to Home Screen.
- 4.Done — your icon sits on their home screen like any other app.
- 1.Open your booking page in Chrome.
- 2.Tap the menu (top right).
- 3.Choose Install app (or "Add to Home screen").
- 4.Confirm — the icon appears in their app drawer.
Why this matters for your business
- Repeat customers rebook in two taps — icon on home screen, booking engine opens instantly.
- Your brand lives on their phone alongside Uber, Google Maps and their bank app.
- No App Store fees, no app review, no developer account, no updates to push — the app stays current automatically because it's still a website underneath.
- Works offline for viewing past bookings; live fares and payment still need an internet connection.
We include a short "Install our app" prompt inside your widget on mobile so customers see the option after their first successful booking — no extra work on your side.
How the flat 5% commission works
The most important bit for water taxi operators: our fee sits on top of your rate, never inside it. You set the price for the job. We add exactly 5% at checkout. Stripe processes the payment, we keep 5%, you get paid the rest.
| Your fare | Customer pays (fare + 5%) | You receive | Our commission |
|---|---|---|---|
| $80.00 | $84.00 | $80.00 | $4.00 |
| $120.00 | $126.00 | $120.00 | $6.00 |
| $200.00 | $210.00 | $200.00 | $10.00 |
| $450.00 | $472.50 | $450.00 | $22.50 |
- After-hours surcharges, public-holiday surcharges and waiting-time charges are all yours — the 5% doesn't apply to those.
- Stripe payment processing fees are absorbed inside our 5%, not passed on to you.
- Refunds and wallet credits are handled by our team, not by yours.
- Daily Stripe Connect payouts land in your bank account the next business morning.
How you get paid — every business day
No waiting weeks for your money. Every booking your widget takes is swept overnight and paid straight to your nominated bank account the next business morning via Stripe Connect.
Customer books & pays on your site
Booking is swept into your Stripe Connect account
Funds land in your bank — 100% of your fare
Same cycle runs every business day, forever
What lands in your account
- ✓ 100% of your base fare
- ✓ 100% of your after-hours surcharge
- ✓ 100% of your public-holiday surcharge
- ✓ 100% of any waiting-time charges you report
- ✓ Zero deductions — Stripe fees are absorbed inside our 5%
The fine print (kept short)
- • Payouts trigger only for jobs that have been completed and marked done in your portal.
- • Advance bookings (paid 3+ days ahead) pay out the business day before pickup so you have fuel money before the run.
- • Refunds and chargebacks are handled by our team, not deducted from your daily payout without notice.
- • First payout may take 2–3 business days while Stripe verifies your ABN, bank account and ID — every payout after that is next-day.
- • You get an emailed statement each morning showing exactly what was paid, for which jobs.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the booking engine cost water taxi operators?
Nothing. There's no setup fee and no monthly fee. We add a flat 5% commission on top of your fare, which the customer pays at checkout. You keep 100% of your own rate.
Will the widget send my customers to other water taxi operators?
No. Your operator key locks the widget to your fleet, your service area and your rates. No water limos or charter boats from other operators appear. It's a private booking engine that just happens to be hosted by us.
How quickly can I get the booking engine live on my water taxi website?
Usually one business day. Email us your fleet, service area and rate card. We generate a private operator key, send you a one-line iframe snippet, and you paste it onto your booking page.
How and when do water taxi operators get paid?
Daily. Every booking your website takes gets paid to your nominated bank account the next business morning via Stripe Connect. You receive 100% of your base fare plus any surcharges you charge (after-hours, public holiday, waiting time). Our 5% commission sits on top and is charged to the customer — never taken out of your fare.
Is this a white-label booking engine?
Yes. The widget lives inside your website and can be configured as a full white-label so the 'Water Taxis Australia' brand is minimised or removed inside the frame.
The embed itself — one iframe
Once we issue your operator key, this is all that goes on your site. Everything else is configured server-side against your key.
<!-- Water Taxis Australia — white-label booking engine for YOUR fleet -->
<iframe
src="https://watertaxisaustralia.com.au/embed?operator=YOUR-OPERATOR-KEY"
width="100%"
height="760"
style="border:0;border-radius:16px;max-width:520px;display:block;margin:0 auto;"
title="Book a water taxi"
loading="lazy"
allow="payment"
></iframe>Prefer a full API integration for a custom-built booking journey or PMS integration? We can issue REST + webhook credentials as well — mention it when you email us.
How to come on board
- 1Email us
Send a short note to support@watertaxisaustralia.com.au with your business name, website, service area and the boats in your fleet.
- 2We set up your operator key
We load your fleet, rates and service area into the system and generate a private operator key just for your site. Usually done within one business day.
- 3You paste the iframe
We email you the exact iframe snippet with your key baked in. Drop it onto your booking page. Done.
- 4Test with a live booking
We'll run a $1 test booking with you on the phone to confirm the flow end-to-end, then you're live.
Ready to get a proper booking engine on your site?
Free to set up, free to run, tailored to your fleet only. Takes about a day to get you live. Email us and we'll take it from there.