# Caravan — AI Dispatch for Transportation Companies (Full Content)


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## Company Information
- Product: Caravan
- Company: Rethread Systems LLC
- Website: https://callcaravan.com
- Founded: 2025
- Category: AI Dispatch / AI Voice Answering Service / SaaS

## Pricing
- $49/month — includes 300 minutes
- Overage: $0.15/min
- 14-day free trial, no credit card required
- No setup fees, cancel anytime
- Live in 48 hours

## vs. Outsourced Dispatch (BPO)
- Outsourced BPO dispatch teams cost $800–$1,500/month for after-hours coverage; $1,100+/month for 24/7
- BPO onboarding: 3–4 days (protocol sheets, rate cards, driver rosters, software credentials)
- Caravan: $49/month, live in 48 hours
- Annual savings switching from BPO to Caravan: $9,000–$17,000+
- Caravan handles 80%+ of inbound call needs: booking intake, reservation lookups, driver transfers, after-hours answering
- BPO holds edge for: driver assignment, affiliate/farm-out coordination, credit card collection, real-time dispatch judgment

## What Caravan Does
- Answers every inbound call 24/7 (no voicemail, no hold times)
- Captures new bookings: passenger name, phone, pickup/drop-off, flight number, terminal, passenger count, luggage, vehicle type
- Confirms existing reservations by name or confirmation number
- Provides pickup time, driver details, vehicle info, and terminal instructions
- Handles after-hours and overflow dispatch coverage
- Transfers calls to a human dispatcher when needed
- Works with Limo Anywhere, RouteGenie, or any dispatch software (CSV/Excel upload or API connection)
- Instant SMS & email alerts to dispatch team for every new booking
- Full dashboard with call recordings and transcripts — every interaction logged

## Who It's For
- Airport shuttle companies
- Black car and limo services
- Shuttle and sedan fleets
- Medical transport (NEMT) operators
- Ground transportation fleets
- Owner-operators and small trucking carriers
- Small to mid-size transportation businesses (3–50 vehicles)
- Operators paying $800–$1,500/month for outsourced BPO dispatch who want to reduce costs

## Key Capabilities (Roles)
1. Receptionist (Available Now): Answers existing-customer and after-hours info calls. Reservation lookup, pickup confirmation, arrival guidance.
2. Reservationist (Available Now): Captures new bookings with full trip details — flight, terminal, pickup/drop-off, passenger count, special requests.

---

# Vertical: NEMT Dispatch Coverage
URL: https://callcaravan.com/nemt

After-hours dispatch coverage for Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) providers. When a broker calls at 9 PM with a wheelchair transport for the next morning, that call must be answered or the trip goes to the next provider.

Captures: Medicaid member ID, trip authorization number, mobility type (ambulatory/wheelchair/stretcher), pickup address, destination, appointment time, return trip details.

Integrations: RouteGenie, TripMaster, Ecolane
Pricing: $49/month, 300 minutes, 14-day free trial, no credit card required, live in 48 hours.

---

# Vertical: AI Dispatch for Black Car & Limousine Services
URL: https://callcaravan.com/black-car-limo

AI dispatch agent for black car and limousine operators. When a corporate travel manager calls at 11 PM to book an airport pickup for an executive, that call must be answered or the booking goes to a competitor.

Captures: flight number, terminal, arrival time, vehicle preference (sedan/SUV/stretch limo/party bus), corporate account and billing reference, special requests (car seat/meet-and-greet/signage), reservation confirmation and lookup.

Integrations: Limo Anywhere, FASTTRAK Cloud, Livery Coach
Pricing: $49/month, 300 minutes, 14-day free trial, no credit card required, live in 48 hours.

---

# Vertical: AI Dispatch for Ground Transportation Operators
URL: https://callcaravan.com/ground-transport

AI dispatch agent for ground transportation fleets. When a hotel concierge calls at 9 PM to book an airport transfer for 8 guests, that call must be answered or the booking goes to the next fleet.

Captures: group size, passenger count, vehicle type (sedan/SUV/sprinter/shuttle/charter bus), pickup and destination with date/time, contract rate and account billing, fleet inquiry details for event planners and travel desks.

Pricing: $49/month, 300 minutes, 14-day free trial, no credit card required, live in 48 hours.

---

# Vertical: After-Hours Dispatch Coverage for Trucking
URL: https://callcaravan.com/truck-dispatch

After-hours dispatch coverage for owner-operators and small trucking carriers. When a broker calls at midnight with a load, that call must be answered or the load goes to the next carrier on the board.

Captures: broker name and MC#, load details (origin, destination, pickup time, delivery window, rate, commodity), structured load sheets delivered to dispatch team.

ServiceType: After-Hours Dispatch Coverage for Trucking
Pricing: $49/month, 300 minutes, 14-day free trial, no credit card required, live in 48 hours.

---

: How Shuttle Companies Lose $5K–$10K/Month After Hours (Without Realizing It)

URL: https://callcaravan.com/blog/shuttle-companies-lost-thousands-in-after-hours-calls/
Published: 2026-03-23
Tags: missed-calls, airport-shuttle, revenue
Key stat: $216K annual revenue lost to unanswered calls
TL;DR: Most shuttle operators lose 3–4 bookings per night by sending after-hours calls to voicemail. At $80/trip, that's up to $8,400/month in recoverable revenue — from demand that already exists.

If your phones go to voicemail after 6 or 7 PM, you are almost certainly losing bookings every single night.

Not occasionally. Not just during peak season. Consistently.

And most operators never measure it.

## The Reality of Shuttle Operations

Airport transportation doesn't follow office hours.

Flights land early in the morning. Late at night. Sometimes after midnight. Travelers change plans in real time—and when they do, they call.

But most shuttle companies are staffed like this:

- Office handles calls during the day
- Phones go to voicemail after hours
- Drivers are still running trips

So while the operation is still active, the booking channel is effectively turned off.

From the customer's perspective, the experience is simple: They call. No one answers. They call someone else.

## Let's Walk Through a Realistic Example

Take a typical operator:

- Fleet size: ~10 vans
- Daily trips: 30–40
- Service type: airport shuttle
- Office hours: daytime only

## Step 1 — How Many Calls Are You Actually Getting?

In transportation, calls don't map 1:1 with trips. Customers call to book, confirm, update flights, ask pickup questions.

A reasonable estimate: 1.2–1.5 calls per trip

For ~35 trips/day: 35 trips × 1.3 ≈ 45 calls/day

## Step 2 — How Many Happen After Hours?

Travel demand extends beyond office hours. A conservative assumption: 25–35% of calls happen after hours.

Using 30%: 45 calls × 30% ≈ 13 after-hours calls/day

## Step 3 — Which of Those Are Booking Calls?

Not every call is a new reservation. Typical breakdown:
- New booking: 30–40%
- Pickup / arrival questions: 30–40%
- General inquiries: 20–30%

Using a conservative estimate of 35% booking-related: 13 calls × 35% ≈ 4–5 booking calls/night

## Step 4 — What Happens When You Don't Answer?

If a traveler is at the airport and no one picks up, they don't wait. They call the next company.

Assume 60–80% of those booking calls are lost. Using 70%: 5 booking calls × 70% ≈ 3–4 lost bookings/night

## Step 5 — What Is That Actually Worth?

At a conservative average fare of $80 per trip: 3.5 lost bookings × $80 ≈ $280/day. Monthly: $280 × 30 ≈ $8,400/month.

## What This Means Operationally

This isn't just revenue—it's utilization. For a 10-vehicle fleet: 3–4 missed trips per night, 90–120 trips per month. That's 5–10% additional utilization from demand that already exists. No new marketing. No new vehicles. Just missed calls.

## The Problem Isn't Complex

The issue is simple: The phone isn't being answered. But staffing an overnight reservation desk doesn't make sense for most operators.

## What Actually Fixes This

A system that answers calls 24/7, collects booking details, captures flight information, and logs trip requests automatically. The goal is not to replace dispatch. The goal is to capture the booking instead of losing it entirely.

## What Happens If You Recover Even Half?

If you recover 50% of missed bookings: 90–120 lost trips/month × 50% ≈ 45–60 recovered bookings. Revenue: 45–60 × $80 ≈ $3,600–$4,800/month. This is purely recovered demand.

## The Easiest Way to Validate This

Route after-hours calls, track what comes in, measure how many bookings you capture. Over 30 days, you'll know how many calls you were missing, how many were actual bookings, and what that's worth in your operation.

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# Blog Post 2: Call Routing for Transportation Operators: A Plain English Setup Guide

URL: https://callcaravan.com/blog/call-routing-guide-transportation-operators/
Published: 2026-04-03
Tags: phone-setup, call-routing, fleet-operations
Key stat: 43% of small transport companies use no call routing at all
TL;DR: If you are not routing calls intentionally, you are routing them to voicemail by default. This guide skips the theory and gives you the steps, codes, and reference numbers to set up proper call routing in an afternoon.

An unanswered call in transportation is a donation to your competitor. Whether it is a $45 NEMT trip or a $400 airport run, if you do not answer, that caller dials the next number on Google. This guide skips the theory and gives you what to actually do.

## Step 1: Pick Your Starting Point by Fleet Size

- 1-2 vehicles: Google Voice (Free) + Caravan, ~$49/month — Basic forwarding + after-hours AI
- 3-10 vehicles: OpenPhone or Grasshopper, $23-$51/month — Ring groups, IVR, basic time routing
- 10+ vehicles: RingCentral or 8x8, $28-$35/user — Full IVR, conditional routing, failover

## Step 2: Activate Call Forwarding

Call forwarding sends unanswered calls to a backup number. Most operators set a 15-20 second delay (2-3 rings) before the forward kicks in.

Dial codes for traditional carriers:
- AT&T: *72 + number + Send (cancel: *73)
- Verizon: *72 + number + Send (cancel: *73)
- T-Mobile: **21* + number + # (cancel: ##21#)
- Sprint: *72 + number (cancel: *720)

For VoIP providers: Go to your admin dashboard under "Call Forwarding," "Call Handling," or "Answering Rules." Enable "Forward when unanswered," not "Always forward."

## Step 3: Split Reservations from Dispatch (Ring Groups)

Every transportation operation has two separate call needs: people booking new rides, and people managing active trips.

Setup in any VoIP dashboard:
1. Create Ring Group A named "Reservations" — add front desk and lead booking agent.
2. Create Ring Group B named "Dispatch" — add on-duty drivers or field coordinators.
3. Set Group A to ring simultaneously for 25 seconds before overflowing.
4. Set Group B to sequential (ring most available person first).

Setting location: "Ring Groups" / "Call Groups" / "Teams" — same feature, different names by provider.

## Step 4: Set Up a Phone Menu (IVR)

A phone menu routes callers before anyone picks up. Keep it to three options maximum.

Limo / Shuttle script: "Thank you for calling [Company]. For new reservations, press 1. For an existing booking, press 2. To speak with someone directly, press 0."

NEMT script: "Thank you for calling [Company]. To schedule a ride, press 1. For an upcoming trip, press 2. For billing, press 3."

Setting location: "Auto-Attendant" / "Virtual Receptionist" / "IVR" in your VoIP dashboard.

NEMT Compliance note: Any system that records calls or stores patient voicemails must be HIPAA-compliant. Require a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) from your provider. RingCentral, Vonage, and 8x8 offer BAAs. Google Voice does not.

## Step 5: Set Time-Based Rules and an Overflow Fallback

Routing table:
- 8 AM - 6 PM (Weekdays) + "1" Reservations → Reservations Ring Group (25s) then Manager Cell
- 8 AM - 6 PM (Weekdays) + "2" Dispatch → Dispatch Ring Group (immediate)
- 6 PM - 10 PM + Any input → On-duty Dispatcher Cell (direct)
- After 10 PM / Weekends + Any input → Caravan (AI voice, captures full trip details)

Setting location: "Business Hours" / "Time Conditions" / "Call Handling Rules."

Failover for internet outages: Set your VoIP to route to your cell if connectivity drops. In RingCentral: Admin Portal > Phone System > Call Handling > Failover. In 8x8: Auto Attendant > Call Routing > Failover Number.

## Quick Provider Comparison

| Feature | Google Voice | Grasshopper | OpenPhone | RingCentral | 8x8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic forwarding | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ring groups | No | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IVR / Auto-attendant | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time-based routing | No | Basic | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Overflow rules | No | Basic | Basic | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA BAA available | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Failover routing | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |

## Reference Numbers Airport Shuttle Operators Actually Need

- American Airlines: 1-800-433-7300
- Delta Air Lines: 1-800-221-1212
- United Airlines: 1-800-864-8331
- Southwest Airlines: 1-800-435-9792
- JetBlue: 1-800-538-2583
- Alaska Airlines: 1-800-252-7522
- Spirit Airlines: 1-855-728-3555
- Frontier Airlines: 1-801-401-9000

Real-time flight tracking: FlightAware.com or FlightRadar24.com

## The One Gap This Whole Setup Still Has

After all five steps above, your system still cannot answer a call when everyone is busy or it is 2 AM. That is where Caravan fits. It sits at the end of your routing chain as the final overflow layer. It picks up anything that falls through, asks the caller for pickup time, location, flight number, and passenger count, then texts the structured booking request to your dispatch team before the caller hangs up. Most operators are live in under 30 minutes.

---

# Blog Post 3: AI Dispatch vs. Outsourced BPO: What Ground Transportation Operators Should Know

URL: https://callcaravan.com/blog/ai-dispatch-vs-outsourced-bpo/
Published: 2026-04-09
Tags: dispatch, bpo, ai-dispatch, ground-transportation
Key stat: 95% cost reduction vs. outsourced dispatch teams
TL;DR: Outsourced dispatch teams from overseas cost $800 to $1,500 per month and take days to onboard. AI dispatch handles the same inbound calls for $49 per month and goes live in 48 hours. Here is what each option actually does, and where the trade-offs are.

If you run a shuttle, black car, or limo company, you have probably been pitched by an overseas dispatch team. They answer your calls, take bookings, assign drivers, and handle customer communication, all for a fixed monthly fee. The value proposition is clear: you focus on operations, they handle the phones.

The question worth asking is whether AI can do the same thing cheaper and faster. Short answer: for most of it, yes. But not all of it.

## What Outsourced Dispatch Teams Actually Do

Based on conversations with multiple overseas dispatch providers serving the U.S. ground transportation market, here is what a typical BPO dispatch team handles:

Call answering and booking intake: They answer your line 24/7, collect all the booking details — passenger name, phone number, pickup address, drop-off address, date, time, number of passengers, luggage count, and vehicle type preference.

Price quoting: They log into your dispatch software (Limo Anywhere, RouteGenie, or whatever you use), pull the rate for the route, and quote the caller directly.

Credit card collection: They take payment information over the phone and process charges through your system.

Driver assignment: Using a priority list you provide, they assign drivers based on availability, proximity, or rotation rules.

Customer callbacks: They call passengers with ETAs, notify them when the driver is en route, and handle post-trip follow-ups.

Affiliate and farm-out management: When you cannot cover a trip with your own fleet, they reach out to affiliate companies to farm out the job.

Typical pricing: $800 to $1,500 per month for after-hours coverage. Full 24/7 dispatch runs $1,100 and up. Onboarding takes 3 to 4 days.

## What AI Dispatch Handles Today

- 24/7 call answering: Every call picked up on the first ring, every time.
- Full booking intake: Passenger name, phone number, pickup and drop-off locations, date, time, number of passengers, luggage, vehicle type, flight number, airline, and terminal.
- Reservation lookup: Callers can check on an existing booking by confirmation number or phone number.
- Caller transfer to assigned driver: When a passenger needs to reach their driver directly, the AI connects the call.
- Instant notifications: Every new booking or inquiry triggers an email and SMS to you or your dispatch team in real time.
- Call recordings and full transcripts: Every interaction is recorded and transcribed.
- Consistent handling: The quality of the call at 3 AM is identical to the call at 3 PM.

Pricing: $49 per month. Live in 48 hours.

## Head-to-Head Comparison

| Capability | Outsourced BPO | AI Dispatch (Caravan) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $800 - $1,500 | $49 |
| Setup time | 3 - 4 days | 48 hours |
| 24/7 call answering | Yes | Yes |
| Booking intake (all fields) | Yes | Yes |
| Reservation lookup | Yes (manual) | Yes (instant) |
| Driver notification | Yes (calls/texts) | Yes (SMS + email) |
| Price quoting from software | Yes | No |
| Driver assignment | Yes | No |
| Affiliate / farm-out coordination | Yes | No |
| Credit card collection | Yes | No |
| Multi-line handling | Limited by staff | Unlimited simultaneous |
| Dashboard with transcripts | No (WhatsApp logs) | Yes (full dashboard) |
| Consistency across shifts | Varies | Identical every call |
| Call recordings | Rarely | Every call |

## Where Human Dispatchers Still Win

Complex multi-step coordination, real-time judgment calls, affiliate network management, and payment processing are areas where human dispatch teams still hold the edge.

## Where AI Wins

Cost ($49 vs. $800–$1,500/month — 95% reduction), availability (truly 24/7 with zero gaps), speed (every call answered on the first ring), consistency (identical handling regardless of time), scalability (unlimited simultaneous calls), visibility (full dashboard with recordings and transcripts), and zero ramp-up time.

## The Practical Middle Ground

For most small ground transportation operators running 5 to 15 vehicles, AI dispatch covers 80% or more of inbound call needs. The remaining 20% — complex trip coordination, payment collection, affiliate management, and judgment calls — is handled by you or your team during business hours.

At $49 per month versus $1,100 per month, the annual savings are over $12,000.

## Contact & Links
- Website: https://callcaravan.com
- Free Trial: https://callcaravan.com/free-trial
- Blog: https://callcaravan.com/blog/
- RSS Feed: https://callcaravan.com/blog/rss.xml
- Summary: https://callcaravan.com/llms.txt