A not for profit “Uber” alternative?

2 points by willdotphipps 9y ago ↗ HN

so i was chatting to an Uber driver the other evening and like many, he was saying he barely scrapes by, as it becomes this global behomoth...anyway, so i thought what if they all just do their own Uber? I know Uber has first mover advantage and a pretty defensible model, but then again, so did Sky TV until Democracy Player came along.

3 comments

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bensaini7 9y ago ↗

I like and support the sentiments you have after chatting with an Uber driver. There is a way to strip away all the fees that Uber cuts out from drivers' compensation and yet make money.

I am technical and have been thinking about doing something in this space. If you are interested, we should connect.

-Ben bensaini7@gmail.com

willdotphipps 9y ago ↗

Thank you, Ben. I think at the moment i'm getting back on my feet and a project of that magnitude would push me over the edge. I don't think it's as easy as just building an app. and suddenly all Uber drivers will use it. It's a nice idea, naive perhaps, but it does make me sad that the drivers I do speak to seem to be really struggling.

petra 9y ago ↗

Low wages for drivers starts with consumers wanting cheap trips. so you'll need to find a way to become cheaper than uber. The most reasonable way to do that(and the way that would win, i think) is through ride-sharing.

But people don't really like to share rides, as far as i can tell. So maybe if you find a way to make people like shared rides , and use that outside of the confines of uber, maybe you'll have something to build on. Oh, and you need to aim towards something like uberXL size, and filling it.

The other path is becoming a professional driver, driving a mini-bus/jitney - much cheaper cost per passenger - which will see greater demand by apps like moovex,@ridewithvia , @ridechariot. but here, on top of marketing, one big limit is the costs of vehicles involved.