Best Practices and FAQs

To help you achieve a smooth integration and therefore deliver the best possible experience to our shared customers, please follow these best practices when using the Vehicle Tracking API.

Best Practices

• Always send bothDRIVER_DEPARTED_TO_PICKUP and DRIVER_ARRIVED_AT_PICKUP events
  These events ensure compliance and build customer trust during critical pickup waiting moments.
• Provide live GPS updates (DRIVER_LIVE_LOCATION event ) whenever possible
  Real-time location updates improve tracking accuracy and enable better visibility throughout the transfer/journey.
• Use accurate timestamps in UTC, formatted as ISO 8601
  Consistent, precise timing ensures reliable event sequencing and traceability.
• Thoroughly test your payloads before going live
  Use our staging environment to send all relevant event data and validate your implementation. We strongly encourage you to coordinate with us to confirm that your requests and data are correctly received and complete. For detailed guidance, please refer to our: API REFERENCE - VEHICLE TRACKING
• Coordinate your go-live
  Lets plan together your deployment, ensuring a smooth transition and quick resolution of any problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• Can I send a booking reference with a suffix (eg. SUNTR_YZ1234/1 or SUNTR_YZ1234-2)?

  No. When calling the API, always use the full booking reference provided by Suntransfers, without any suffixes.
  For example:

  • Correct: SUNTR_YZ1234
  • Incorrect: SUNTR_YZ1234/1, SUNTR_YZ1234-LEG1, SUNTR_YZ1234-2)
    If your internal system uses extended references per transfer, be sure to map back to the original reference we provided when reporting events.

• What Time should I use for the field "occurredAt"?

  Always use the real timestamp when the event happens on your side. Do not use the scheduled times.

  Example:

  Let’s say the scheduled pickup time is 2025-07-25T15:30:00, but your system detects that the driver actually departed at 2025-07-25T15:48:00.

  In this case, you should send 2025-07-25T15:48:00 as the occurredAt value — because that’s when the event really took place.

  Sending the scheduled time instead would be inaccurate and defeat the purpose of real-time tracking.
  This value should reflect real-world conditions, allowing us to track what truly happened and when.

Support & Contact

If you face any challenges during implementation or require assistance:

• Contact your Suntransfers supplier manager
  For questions about your account or onboarding process.
• Email our integration team for questions about integration details.
  Reach out to [email protected]. Please include:
  • Your supplier code
  • A short description of the issue
  • Sample payloads or error messages (if available)

☀️

Thank you for partnering with Suntransfers to create a reliable, transparent, and customer-friendly transfer experience.

— Suntransfers Team