Ask HN: Anyone interested in building a open-source non-profit Uber competitor?
I read the following NYTimes article about how Uber drivers don't make all that much money, and wondered if their lives could be improved even slightly if there existed a Uber competitor that charged minimal commissions by being non-profit and relying on open source development. If nothing else, it would put a little more pressure on Uber/Lyft to treat their drivers better.
Needless to say, there is no potential for riches. This would be a labor of love.
Would anyone be interested in working on this?
https://nyti.ms/2VKYROJ
(
12 comments
| 14 points
| on HN
)
Both Uber and Lyft are sinking a lot of that into driverless cars, and of course they're both burning through funds like a drunken binge. You can't compete with free, but free can't compete with negative. When the sun comes up from the rager and the market realizes the big 2 are cash pits instead of cash machines, it'd be nice to be in a position to take over for them.
But until then, you have to be heard over the din. That means you can't give the drivers the full difference, or too few passengers will use your service. Maybe splitting the difference, so instead of a $40 fare going $16 to Uber and $24 to the driver, make it a $32 fare going $30 to the driver and $2 to run overhead (servers, financial overhead).
I could see this being a philosophical dealbreaker, as some people would want the drivers to eat the Uberless overhead to bring cheaper fares (defeats the point for the drivers), and others would want the drivers to keep the Uberless overhead (defeats the point for the passengers).
Requiring drivers to send copies of their Uber and/or Lyft certifications would offload that cost of entry to the competition. That'd work great until Uber or Lyft kicks them off for good reason.
As long as the math makes sense, ping me and I'm game for helping out.
- You can completely get rid of centralized international payment processing and distribution.
- Countries where cellular networks have good coverage (i.e. most of the regions where marketplaces operate today) already have highly efficient payment networks that can be set up by any individual or a business. All we need to do is educate them how.
I don't think building a technology infrastructure would be the right way to solve this problem. Effort should instead be spent in educating how the existing infrastructure can be used by individuals to their advantage.
The goal of marketplace operator should be to ensure that all the operations are run smoothly. How customer grievances are to be addressed? How the legal regulations are to be followed? How the service is going to be provided? How the compensation is going to be received? In other words the marketplaces should take away the administrative burden of the participants.
Think virtual assistants.
(Unfortunately, when we tried to use RideAustin on a recent visit, it didn’t work... but they’ve had millions in revenue so I think we were just unlucky)
http://www.rideaustin.com/
http://libretaxi.org/ https://github.com/ro31337/libretaxi
I think the reality is such a project is less about the app and more about mobilising the drivers to join and sorting out various hurdles so they can safely and legally operate in a jurisdiction, especially if you're also taking payments on their behalf (that'll be the reason libretaxi uses cash). Doing that paperwork is a lot of man hours for somebody...