A Bit of Terminology

There are a couple of bits of terminology that came up in the previous sections that are worth defining, because they come up repeatedly.

Locations

In relation to Simply Connect, a location is a collection of drivers and passengers that all operate within a specified geographical area. Drivers and passengers all belong to a specific location, and when a user signs up they are asked which location they want to register with. Thus, all locations operate independently of each other, and many of the system settings in the management console apply to locations rather than to your entire organisation (this means you can set different parameters for different locations).

Of course, there is nothing stopping you creating multiple locations that cover the same geographical area, but remember that they will operate entirely independently of each other. In fact, if you want to experiment with location settings, we suggest you do it first on a separate simulated location rather than a location with real passengers and drivers.

A word about signing up: when passengers register to use Simply Connect, they will be asked to choose which location they want to use Simply Connect in (assuming that there are multiple locations available). However, passengers can only sign up for public locations (if they don’t have a secret link). When you first create a location in the management console, it is a private location. This means that, for as long as it remains private, passengers need a special link containing a code in order to sign up for your location. When you’re ready to accept passengers from the general public, request that your location be made public from the location settings in the management console. We’ll review the data we hold about you to make sure everything is in order, and then convert your location to a public location.

The first screenshot below is from the management console, and shows changing the management console between different locations. The second screenshot is from the passenger registration process in the passenger app, and shows the user being asked to select which location they want to use Simply Connect in.

Select different locations to manage on the management console.

New passengers can choose from available public locations. Their account will be associated with the location they choose.

Uplift points

We talk a lot about places where passengers get in or out of vehicles. Individually, we refer to these as “pick-up points” and “drop-off points”. However, when we want to refer collectively to one or the other, it’s a bit of a mouthful to write “either a pick-up point or a drop-off point” repeatedly, so we use the term “uplift point” to refer to either one or the other.

What’s next?

On the next page, we’ll point out a few bits and pieces about Simply Connect’s passenger app, and we’ll invite you to try it out.