Advanced Bookings Overview
Advanced Bookings power the mobile Book Ahead flow for scooters and bikes. Instead of asking a rider to pick a specific vehicle on the map, the rider reserves a model, quantity, pickup location, and time window. Operators then assign the actual physical vehicle before pickup.
This is designed for fleets where riders care about getting the right class of vehicle at the right time, while operators need control over which vehicles are prepared, charged, inspected, and staged.
Model-level, not vehicle-level
A Book Ahead reservation sells capacity for a model at a pickup location. The rider does not browse individual vehicle numbers during booking.
What Riders Choose
In the mobile app, riders select:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pickup location | The operator-defined reservation location where pickup happens |
| Pickup time | Local date and time when the booking starts |
| Return time | Local date and time when the booking should end |
| Model | The vehicle model being reserved, such as a scooter or bike model |
| Quantity | Number of units to reserve for that model and time window |
The app shows only models with configured reservation inventory at the selected location. Availability is calculated from configured caps minus existing overlapping model bookings.
What Operators Configure
Operators control the reservation supply from Dashboard > Car Sharing > Reservations > Inventory.
The main objects are:
| Object | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Reservation location | A pickup point with name, address, and timezone |
| Inventory cap | Maximum quantity of a vehicle model that can be sold for overlapping booking windows at that location |
| Pricing tier | The rate and deposit configuration used to price the reservation |
| Assignment | A physical vehicle linked to a model reservation before pickup |
Inventory caps are the saleable promise. Assignments are the operational fulfillment step.
Booking Lifecycle
Advanced bookings follow this lifecycle:
| Stage | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Availability check | Mobile app asks which models have capacity for the selected location and time |
| Booking | Rider confirms model, quantity, and time window |
| Deposit charge | The booking deposit is charged immediately |
| Confirmation | Reservation moves to confirmed status and the rider is notified |
| Assignment | Operator assigns one or more eligible physical vehicles |
| Pickup | Single-unit bookings can be checked in by the rider after assignment; multi-unit bookings are operator-assisted |
| Ride creation | Check-in unlocks the assigned vehicle, enables throttle, and creates the ride |
| Checkout | Vehicle is locked, remaining balance is collected, assignment is released, and the rider is notified |
| Cancellation or no-show | Assigned vehicles are released back into the fleet |
How Capacity Is Protected
Advanced bookings protect inventory in two layers:
- Model-level caps prevent overselling a location, model, and time window.
- Vehicle assignments prevent the same physical vehicle from being assigned to overlapping reservations.
Walk-up unlocks also check near-term reservation pressure. If a vehicle is needed to satisfy an upcoming model booking, the instant unlock flow can block the walk-up ride so the promised booking can still be fulfilled.
Use caps below your physical fleet count
Leave room for charging, repairs, missing vehicles, and staging delays. If a location has 12 bikes, selling 8 or 10 overlapping reservations is usually safer than selling all 12.
How Payments Work
Book Ahead uses an upfront booking deposit. The platform charges the deposit immediately when the reservation is created and does not rely on a long-lived card authorization hold.
For model reservations:
- The booking deposit is labeled as non-refundable in the mobile flow.
- The deposit is applied toward the booking total.
- Any remaining balance is collected during checkout.
- If checkout balance collection fails, the reservation can still complete with
balance_due_centsrecorded so the unpaid amount is visible.
When to Use Advanced Bookings
Use Advanced Bookings when:
- Riders should reserve a model or vehicle class rather than a specific unit.
- You need time to prepare, charge, inspect, and stage vehicles.
- You support group bookings where a rider reserves multiple bikes or scooters.
- Demand spikes make walk-up availability unreliable.
- Operators need manual control over which physical vehicle fulfills each booking.
Do not use Advanced Bookings when your fleet wants a pure map-first experience where every rider picks and unlocks a specific nearby vehicle immediately.
Core Operator Responsibilities
To keep Book Ahead reliable, operators should:
- Configure reservation locations with the correct timezone.
- Create pricing tiers for each reservable model or vehicle type.
- Set conservative model caps per location.
- Monitor the assignment queue daily.
- Assign vehicles early enough to charge, inspect, and stage them.
- Watch unavailable reasons when a vehicle cannot be assigned.
- Run pickup, checkout, cancellation, and no-show workflows from the reservation detail page.