As a person who just spent two weeks daily using Uber heavily for a consulting gig, I found no trust in the Uber system itself; and was dismayed at the small amount the drivers were actually getting.
While I do not have the acumen to set up such a system, I do believe there needs to be others the the 2 "big names" who are currently monopolizing the field.
Interesting information, but it seems to me that it's also about the customers themselves. You can create an application that will be many times better, but people will be skeptical about it, because of distrust or misunderstanding. Most users often perceive something new with hostility. It is easier for them to use what is convenient, comfortable and what they are confident in. And the monopolist company takes advantage of this by changing the conditions that are suitable for it. Since there are no analogues.
Therefore, I believe that a new product requires either an innovative approach, something that other competitors do not have, or the creativity of the product. And also a big marketing campaign, since no one will want to use an unknown thing, no matter how convenient it is. Unfortunately, the realities are as follows.
I tried to tell you about my opinion, as a direct customer of the product :)
Thanks a lot for the information Philip. (Could you get in touch with me? I would like to discuss some things with you.)
But there is a simpler solution. Taxi drivers could build their own companies (ex.: New York Taxi Community). The shareholders would be the taxi drivers, a small deposit at the start, and a percentage of the income would be enough for the lawyers, accountants, and for the software development (the software would be open-source, and these taxi communities could donate the development)—many small Uber owned by the drivers instead of one big.
If people could cooperate, then companies like Uber would never exist. But they cannot... Why?
You would have a serious cold start problem here in that your reputation system requires scale to work, and you wouldn't have enough data initially. This is why we tend to trust institutions (Uber is one, despite its flaws) to act as a proxy for trust
As a person who just spent two weeks daily using Uber heavily for a consulting gig, I found no trust in the Uber system itself; and was dismayed at the small amount the drivers were actually getting.
While I do not have the acumen to set up such a system, I do believe there needs to be others the the 2 "big names" who are currently monopolizing the field.
Thank you for the heads up Philip.
Interesting information, but it seems to me that it's also about the customers themselves. You can create an application that will be many times better, but people will be skeptical about it, because of distrust or misunderstanding. Most users often perceive something new with hostility. It is easier for them to use what is convenient, comfortable and what they are confident in. And the monopolist company takes advantage of this by changing the conditions that are suitable for it. Since there are no analogues.
Therefore, I believe that a new product requires either an innovative approach, something that other competitors do not have, or the creativity of the product. And also a big marketing campaign, since no one will want to use an unknown thing, no matter how convenient it is. Unfortunately, the realities are as follows.
I tried to tell you about my opinion, as a direct customer of the product :)
Thanks a lot for the information Philip. (Could you get in touch with me? I would like to discuss some things with you.)
another alternative being the 'Uber Co-op' -- already working in NYC & Denver I think: https://drivers.coop/
Some years ago I implemented an Uber-like MVP on a weekend (https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/decentralized-uber-heres-how-i-built-it-with-status-im-waku-and-vue-js-719b0b998387). This is only the signaling part. It broadcasts the passenger location to every available car which is inefficient, but "Location-based broadcast" (I mentioned it in the article) can help.
For payment and identity management, there are good blockchain-based solutions (Gnosis chain for cheap dollar payments, and Worldcoin's WorldID for identity management). Or you can use Karma (https://medium.com/better-programming/karma-an-erc20-compatible-alternative-money-on-the-ethereum-blockchain-cee660b821ce) as a flavor-based payment system.
This is fully decentralized.
But there is a simpler solution. Taxi drivers could build their own companies (ex.: New York Taxi Community). The shareholders would be the taxi drivers, a small deposit at the start, and a percentage of the income would be enough for the lawyers, accountants, and for the software development (the software would be open-source, and these taxi communities could donate the development)—many small Uber owned by the drivers instead of one big.
If people could cooperate, then companies like Uber would never exist. But they cannot... Why?
You would have a serious cold start problem here in that your reputation system requires scale to work, and you wouldn't have enough data initially. This is why we tend to trust institutions (Uber is one, despite its flaws) to act as a proxy for trust