For water taxi, water limousine & charter boat operators
Run your boat. We'll fill the diary.
Water Taxis Australia is the national booking platform for water taxi operators, water limousine companies and private charter boat operators — Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, the Hawkesbury, Central Coast, Newcastle, Gold Coast Broadwater, Brisbane, the Whitsundays and beyond. Bookings and enquiries land straight on your phone: you accept, we handle payment, paperwork and customer comms.Booked in seconds. On the water in minutes.
A job, from ping to payout — step by step
No jargon, no guessing. Here's exactly what happens on your phone and in your bank account from the moment a customer books, to the moment your money hits.
These steps are for water taxi & water limousine operators.
Charter boat operators use a slightly different flow — most charters are quote-only, take a 25% deposit up front and pay the balance 14 days before departure. Live SMS job broadcasting, one-tap accept and one-tap trip-complete links don't apply. If you run a charter fleet, we'll walk you through the charter workflow once your application is approved.
- A
Customer books & pays us upfront
A customer finishes the booking on our website and pays by card. Their money is held securely by us — you don't have to chase anyone for payment, ever.
- B
You get an SMS + email job offer
Every available operator in that zone gets the offer at the same time. You'll see pickup wharf, drop-off, guest count, time, and your payout for the job. Customer name and phone stay hidden at this stage. One tap to Accept or Decline.
- C
You accept — job locks to you
First operator to tap Accept wins the job. It disappears from every other operator's phone. Your portal now shows the customer's name, mobile, any notes, and the full pickup details.
- C-alt
You decline (or don't respond in time)
No cash penalty — ignore it or tap Decline and it goes to the next operator automatically. But repeated no-responses lower your scorecard, and a low scorecard means fewer offers land on your phone. Simple as that.
- D
We confirm with the customer
As soon as you accept, we send the customer their booking confirmation (email + SMS) with your ETA, the pickup wharf, and our office mobile in case anything changes on the day.
- E
~1–2 hours before pickup — live tracking goes live
We text the customer a live tracking link so they can see your boat approaching the wharf in real time (GPS from your /portal skipper view). You get an automated SMS reminder with the pickup address and passenger count.
- F
Pickup & trip
Standard 15-minute wharf wait is included. If the customer's late beyond that, log the waiting time in /portal — we automatically charge their card $5/min off-session. No awkward cash conversations.
- F+
Scan the customer's QR to board them
Every paid customer gets a wallet-style digital ticket with a big QR code. When they turn up at your pontoon, just point your own phone camera at their QR — no app, no portal login, no password. It opens straight to a big 'READY TO BOARD' screen showing their name, party size, pickup and drop-off. One tap on 'Confirm passenger aboard' and the pass turns green with a Boarded tick and timestamp. Under 3 seconds per group. That check-in also proves you actually ran the job, which triggers your next-day payout in step H. Customers can show the QR from any of four places (all scan the same, all are legit): the live ticket link, a screenshot in their Photos, a Calendar event they added, or a Home Screen icon. Never ask them to log in — just scan whatever's on their phone.
- G
One-tap: Mark the trip complete
About 90 minutes after the pickup time, we automatically text and email you a one-tap link to mark the job complete — no portal login required. Just tap the link when you've dropped the passengers and you're done. Only jump into /portal if you need to log waiting time, extra stops, cleaning or damage before we bill the customer.
- H
Payout — usually the day before the job
Customers normally pay us 3+ days ahead, so your earnings typically land in your bank the day before the trip runs — nice and clean. If it's a last-minute booking (or you haven't finished the Stripe payout link we emailed you), it settles the next business day instead. Either way you keep 100% of your quoted base fare + any surcharges you reported. A remittance advice email lands automatically for your records.
You focus on running your boat. We do the rest — and it costs you nothing to be on the network.
We market your boat for you — at no cost.
Joining the network isn't just about SMS job offers. Every operator gets free, ongoing marketing across our website, Google search, social channels and route-specific landing pages. You focus on running your boat — we'll keep the phone ringing.
Google & SEO
Route-specific landing pages (e.g. Circular Quay → Manly) that rank on Google — customers find us, jobs flow to you.
Social & content
We run the ads, social posts and content calendar. Your fleet gets exposure without you lifting a finger.
Featured on our site
Your operator profile, service area and photos shown to thousands of visitors every month.
Brand & PR
We invest in the Water Taxis Australia brand nationally so every operator benefits from the trust and reach.
Zero marketing spend from you. Zero monthly fees. Just more bookings.
Why wouldn't you want to be part of a network that gives you free marketing, more business, more opportunities and more bookings?
This is the boarding pass every passenger will show you
Once a customer has paid and you've won the job, they receive the boarding pass below. Assume they're tourists in a hotel room, a restaurant or a bar — not standing on your pontoon. The ticket walks them to the exact wharf with live Google Maps directions from wherever they are. When they turn up, point your phone's camera at the QR — it opens straight to a "READY TO BOARD" screen. Tap once. Done. No portal, no password, no app.
Staying at a hotel? Tap this and Google Maps routes from your current location to pickup point A.
Staying at a hotel? Tap this and Google Maps routes from your current location to pickup point A.
Your passenger will always find the right wharf.
The customer's ticket has two live Google Maps buttons — from their hotel or current location straight to your pickup pontoon (point A), and the full A → B route. Google Maps re-routes them in real time if they walk the wrong way, so tourists actually arrive at the correct wharf, on time, ready to board. Fewer no-shows, fewer "I can't find the boat" phone calls, cleaner turnarounds for your skippers.
One tap opens Google Maps walking directions from where they're standing right now to the exact pontoon.
Google Maps tracks their direction of travel and corrects them live if they head the wrong way.
A second button opens the whole harbour route so passengers can see the trip end-to-end before they board.
The wharf, pontoon or berth is spelled out on the ticket — not just a suburb. No guessing which jetty.
What operators need to do
- 1Confirm you've won the job.You'll get an SMS + email the moment you accept. The customer's boarding pass is issued automatically once their card clears — you don't touch payments.
- 2Assume the passenger is NOT at the wharf yet.Most of our customers are tourists booking from a hotel room, a restaurant or a bar — not people already standing on your pontoon. When you accept the job they could be anywhere in the city. That's fine. The ticket does the heavy lifting: it tells them which wharf, which pontoon, and how to walk there.
- 3They already have live walking directions to your wharf.Every ticket has a big "Hotel / current location → pickup A"button. Google Maps opens on their phone with turn-by-turn walking directions from wherever they are — the Hilton lobby, a bar in The Rocks, a restaurant in Darling Harbour — and re-routes them live if they head the wrong way. Tourists, overseas visitors and passengers who've had a few drinks still arrive at the correct pontoon, on time. You don't have to talk them in.
- 4Scan with your phone camera. No login.Open your native camera app (iPhone Camera or Android Google Lens) and point it at the QR on the passenger's ticket. A notification pops up — tap it. A big navy "READY TO BOARD" screen loads with the passenger's name and party size. No portal. No password. No app to install.
- 5One tap to confirm aboard.Check the passenger, then tap "Confirm passenger aboard". Screen turns navy with a big tick — APPROVED. Trip is locked in for payout the day before. Total time: about 5 seconds. That's the whole job.
- 6No smartphone / camera issues?Any operator with portal access can also open /portal/scanand type the passenger's WTA-XXXXXXX reference manually. Same result.
- 7Ticket is single-use and expires after the trip.Every QR is unique to one booking. The scan link stops working 24 hours after the scheduled pickup — old tickets can't be replayed.
Where we dispatch
We're actively onboarding operators in these regions. Jobs are matched to your home region only — a Sydney boat will never see a Whitsundays job.
Sydney Harbour
Our flagship network — wharf transfers, events, cruise terminals.
Whitsundays
Island & resort transfers, Airlie Beach to Hamilton and beyond.
Gold Coast Broadwater
Broadwater, canals and Surfers Paradise wharves.
What you'll need (water taxi operators)
The checklist below applies to water taxi operators only. Water limo and charter boat operators have a different onboarding — just complete the application below and select your operator type; we'll ask for what's relevant to your business (e.g. menus, brochures and vessel details for charter boats).
- Current AMSA-compliant commercial vessel (Class 1C / 1D)
- Valid skipper certification and business insurance (we'll ask for copies)
- An Australian mobile that can receive SMS job offers
- An ABN and a bank account for daily settlement (paid next business day)
- Our published fare schedule is a guide — you can adjust the quoted price when you accept a job if it doesn't suit. The customer is charged the price you confirm.
Already running your own booking software?
If you already use a dispatch or reservations platform, you can share your API key with us and we'll push accepted jobs straight into your system — no double entry. Status updates flow back automatically. Tell us about it on your application below, or message us from the operator portal once you're signed in.
- Jobs auto-created in your system
- Skipper assignment stays in your dispatch
- We handle the customer-facing booking flow
- Keys are encrypted at rest, never exposed publicly
Ready to start accepting jobs?
Send us your vessel, region and skipper details. We'll come back same day.
Already an operator? Sign in to the operator portal.