The middle men are everyone but the driver and passenger though
psychothumbs@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 20:20
collapse
Yeah exactly - the proposal here is to have a driver-owned worker cooperative run the app.
pennomi@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 20:55
nextcollapse
That’s a great idea, if someone can bring the software and enough advertising to make it successful. It’s really hard but possible.
psychothumbs@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 21:15
collapse
It has already been done, that’s what the article is about: drivers.coop
Currently based in NYC, but getting ready for a big launch in Minneapolis in response to the incumbent rideshare companies pulling out of the city in protest of increased rideshare regulation. Big opportunity to seize some marketshare without needing that much startup capital if your better financed competitors are removing themselves from that part of the market.
maynarkh@feddit.nl
on 18 Apr 2024 21:48
nextcollapse
Best of luck to them. I’d love if this became a reality, it would make the whole gig economy a better place.
Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 18:09
collapse
Past few times I have tried it. No drivers in Denver. I will keep trying but they need more drivers and this is not something that happens overnight
psychothumbs@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 23:18
collapse
Yeah I think it’s pretty much just in NYC for now, with a big launch in Minneapolis in progress. Hopefully they get to Denver soon!
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
on 18 Apr 2024 20:56
collapse
It’s a little bit cryptobro-y, but the intentions are good.
Woozythebear@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 23:19
nextcollapse
If it has anything to do with crypto the intentions are not good.
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
on 18 Apr 2024 23:26
collapse
Nah it’s just that it uses blockchain technology for some reason (hype I guess), but it’s not coin related. (Blockchains can be used for other purposes than money).
warmaster@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 23:37
collapse
The Blockhain idea is actually great, crypto-currency is the scam. People need to learn differentiate.
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
on 18 Apr 2024 23:56
nextcollapse
Yup, for example it can be used to provide distributed authentication
warmaster@lemmy.world
on 19 Apr 2024 00:37
collapse
Or leave an audit trail for a logistics business for example.
There are a gazillion use cases, most overlooked because of the coin stench.
9bananas@lemmy.world
on 19 Apr 2024 11:41
collapse
not necessarily, but it can be a good idea to have a distributed, tamper proof ledger of transactions.
that way anyone can provide proof for basically anything to do with the service: payment, drive, location, etc.
it might also have advantages from a security perspective for riders and drivers.
there are advantages, they’re not entirely necessary, but they may well be the best option for a distributed network (i.e.: no central server infrastructure, at least not beyond some simple software repository for downloads/updates)
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
on 19 Apr 2024 22:54
collapse
It’s the cryptocurrency that keeps it tamper proof.
Any blockchain can be altered they aren’t immutable by nature.
What keeps it immutable is the incentive provided and to not cheat so you can get that incentive.
The whole thing is trustless and everyone is working together aligned on the incentive.
If it doesn’t cost resources to secure the chain (which get recouped by the reward) anyone could just spin up a bazillion nodes and take control of the chain and alter the records. And anyone could collide to do so with others to benefit themselves by altering it if they aren’t risking a reward, or in PoS, their stake.
If it’s a small private blockchain to just keep track of data, people could collude and alter it and it could just be a write only dB with a few admins
What Satoshi did, was invent a way to make a digital item immutable, that was the invention. There were no immutable digital items prior to that. A blockchain isn’t just immutable because it’s a blockchain.
Stop using “crypto” as a synonym for Blockchain. Crypto means cryptography and it’s used in the communication between your browser and websites.
AbsurdityAccelerator@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 12:57
collapse
You are 100% correct. I meant to say blockchain.
Rottcodd@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 21:32
nextcollapse
Best of luck to them.
It’s true in essentially all industries, but it’s especially obvious in rideshare that there’s a layer of parasites who get paid far too much money for nothing beyond the fact that they won the fight for the position of “parasite who gets paid far too much money for doing nothing.”
Anything that might even just decrease the number of overpaid parasites would be a benefit not just to the concerned industry, but to society as a whole.
Wappen@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 22:29
nextcollapse
I bet what they all have in common is that they all used advertising in order to get to their position.
roofuskit@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 22:58
collapse
They’re just taking their cut for figuring out how to avoid labor laws.
NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 22:09
nextcollapse
Cities should socialize ride shares, delivery shares, bike/scooter shares.
Sure some guy invented an app to make them all slightly easier, and he made a ton a money. Cool. Good for him. Time to make the technology work for people.
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
on 18 Apr 2024 22:55
nextcollapse
I think Berlin did that with MyTaxi
linkhidalgogato@lemmy.ml
on 20 Apr 2024 14:24
collapse
cities should socialize. the rest of the comment is unnecessary actually so is cities everything should socialize everything
Wanderer@lemm.ee
on 18 Apr 2024 22:44
nextcollapse
Really excited for Waymo to change the world.
Going to free up so much labour. Although I haven’t had too many issues with Uber, taxi drivers can be an absolute disgrace can’t wait for a few of those people to be out of a job where they exploit people.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net
on 18 Apr 2024 23:01
nextcollapse
All you need to do is find a way of getting people in touch with you for your service. Mainly the reason I hate these companies is because they do provide a valuable service for the drivers in that they have a system to get the people who need a ride connected with the people who give rides; but they demand too much of the profit for what work they actually provide. The ones doing the real work get peanuts and the tool provider is taking in the big bucks.
TheFriar@lemm.ee
on 19 Apr 2024 00:20
nextcollapse
I mean, I’m sure we could get a non-profit started that offers the exact same service. Just get drivers to take on the responsibility of covering any accidents, etc. It could run on donations like Wikipedia. The drivers get 100% of the profits…I’m sure there’s be unforeseen snags, but I really wish we could start “disrupting” industries by literally taking these tech fucks’ share of the market and redistribute that shit to drivers.
Rides would probably be cheaper, no surge pricing, and a good ol’ stick in the eye of the tech industry.
Maggoty@lemmy.world
on 19 Apr 2024 01:42
nextcollapse
The insurance is part of why it works. I looked up commercial insurance rates for a taxi and it’s like $2,000 every six months. And while that’s doable if rates are the same or only a little lower it’s still one hell of a gut check. Because you don’t know if you’re going to get customers. Uber and Lyft absorbed that risk.
So what’s likely to happen in the near future is uninsured or under insured open source ride-sharing that will need to crown a winning app or two before it gets predictable enough for people to pay that.
And that means it also needs to survive that stage with Uber and Lyft strongly messaging normal people about safety and quality concerns.
jenny_ball@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 19:07
collapse
a lot of people use rented vehicles
EatATaco@lemm.ee
on 20 Apr 2024 13:13
nextcollapse
Holy shit, why not just read the article? This is exactly what the interview is about.
Why do people read the comments, but not the articles? I don’t get it.
melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee
on 20 Apr 2024 18:59
collapse
fuck it, even add in real ride shares, where you say ‘I’m going to x place, I’m willing to go y amount out of my way and pick up z passengers’
SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip
on 20 Apr 2024 18:14
collapse
I don’t get what happens in the backend, but you can’t convince me that these companies should be multi-billion dollar companies.
psilotop@lemmy.world
on 18 Apr 2024 23:46
nextcollapse
Am I crazy or is everyone just describing car service? Lots of major cities have private storefronts with a group of drivers and a single person that answers the phones.
The only thing those businesses were ever missing was a good online presence and/or a smartphone app.
The only thing those businesses were ever missing was a good online presence and/or a smartphone app.
Which is, of course, no small thing and the thing that makes uber/lyft thousands of times better than the car service model.
psilotop@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 14:02
collapse
I disagree with this. Uber and Lyft just did it at scale. My local car service can make a website with payment processing without knowing any coding. They don’t need a full service app with a global presence. It’s not trivial but totally doable.
How old are you? Did you spend any time in the pre Uber days trying to get a cab? Wrong part of NYC? Good luck. Out in the suburbs and you don’t know a local cab company’s number? Lol never going to happen.
The electronic payment system is not what made it such a big improvement. It’s the ability to instantly call a cab almost anywhere, at any time, with no knowledge of anything local. It’s the connection between the drivers and the passengers that was the big leap.
psilotop@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 15:08
collapse
I grew up in New York City, called the same car service from my neighborhood wherever I was to get home. The main problem is the suburbs, I agree.
In my suburbs, if there were enough of us around, there was someone who knew the local cab company’s number too. Although that was also not great late at night. The issue is that when you are not from the area and don’t have someone who knows the number. This is what Uber (mostly) fixed.
Considering Uber is already pretty bad, take a guess.
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
on 19 Apr 2024 01:32
collapse
Idk, considering everyone’s parents said never to get into a car with a stranger and they have like somewhere close to fifth sigma error levels in safety, it seems more safe than people would assume. Considering the rumor is you need almost no background check to do it.
Generally speaking, ridesharing is more than 99.99 percent safe whether you’re using Uber or Lyft. However, issues do occur. In 2019 and 2020, for example, there were over 4,800 safety incidents during U.S. Lyft and Uber rides.1 But out of billions of trips total, these companies have safety incident rates of 0.0005 percent and 0.0003 percent…
Anything is bad. Just like how Uber is shit today, P2P won’t be any different.
A system where everyone can advertise themselves as a taxi is unnecessarily dangerous. Just use regular normal taxi. Anyone can become a taxi in that system, and that’s bad.
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 15:56
collapse
Normal taxi still refuse to not be disgusting inside and 20 year old cars with drivers who don’t turn on the ac. Not everyone lives in a global city.
PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
on 19 Apr 2024 22:29
nextcollapse
Kind of a dumb point. I suspect you didn’t really have much experience using taxis pre-uber. This is all about trying to replace the uber/lyft model with a similar thing, but where most of the profits go to the drivers and not uber/lyft.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 14:56
collapse
All the pieces exist… GPS location, mapping, money transfer e-commerce software, the fediverse social platform. What is missing is the social platform integration of all those separate pieces.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world
on 20 Apr 2024 18:26
collapse
You mean Craigslist?
DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
on 20 Apr 2024 19:23
collapse
This is the part of the decentralized “Gig economy” model that no one seems to have a good answer for, how do you filter out bad actors or even known threats without an organization calling the shots?
I think the answer is pretty simple, honestly. Have an organization whose purpose is just to filter out bad actors and maintain the technology. Just don’t be greedy or heirarchal about it. The tech staff gets paid from a small percentage from the providers.
Should be easy, right? Right??!?
Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone
on 21 Apr 2024 21:14
collapse
But why do that when I can just make tons of money by taking it away from the good actors?
threaded - newest
The middle men are everyone but the driver and passenger though
Yeah exactly - the proposal here is to have a driver-owned worker cooperative run the app.
That’s a great idea, if someone can bring the software and enough advertising to make it successful. It’s really hard but possible.
It has already been done, that’s what the article is about: drivers.coop
Currently based in NYC, but getting ready for a big launch in Minneapolis in response to the incumbent rideshare companies pulling out of the city in protest of increased rideshare regulation. Big opportunity to seize some marketshare without needing that much startup capital if your better financed competitors are removing themselves from that part of the market.
Best of luck to them. I’d love if this became a reality, it would make the whole gig economy a better place.
Past few times I have tried it. No drivers in Denver. I will keep trying but they need more drivers and this is not something that happens overnight
Yeah I think it’s pretty much just in NYC for now, with a big launch in Minneapolis in progress. Hopefully they get to Denver soon!
I present to you: eva.coop
It’s a little bit cryptobro-y, but the intentions are good.
If it has anything to do with crypto the intentions are not good.
Nah it’s just that it uses blockchain technology for some reason (hype I guess), but it’s not coin related. (Blockchains can be used for other purposes than money).
The Blockhain idea is actually great, crypto-currency is the scam. People need to learn differentiate.
Yup, for example it can be used to provide distributed authentication
Or leave an audit trail for a logistics business for example.
There are a gazillion use cases, most overlooked because of the coin stench.
Is it a necessary technology for ride sharing?
not necessarily, but it can be a good idea to have a distributed, tamper proof ledger of transactions.
that way anyone can provide proof for basically anything to do with the service: payment, drive, location, etc.
it might also have advantages from a security perspective for riders and drivers.
there are advantages, they’re not entirely necessary, but they may well be the best option for a distributed network (i.e.: no central server infrastructure, at least not beyond some simple software repository for downloads/updates)
It’s the cryptocurrency that keeps it tamper proof.
Any blockchain can be altered they aren’t immutable by nature.
What keeps it immutable is the incentive provided and to not cheat so you can get that incentive.
The whole thing is trustless and everyone is working together aligned on the incentive.
If it doesn’t cost resources to secure the chain (which get recouped by the reward) anyone could just spin up a bazillion nodes and take control of the chain and alter the records. And anyone could collide to do so with others to benefit themselves by altering it if they aren’t risking a reward, or in PoS, their stake.
If it’s a small private blockchain to just keep track of data, people could collude and alter it and it could just be a write only dB with a few admins
What Satoshi did, was invent a way to make a digital item immutable, that was the invention. There were no immutable digital items prior to that. A blockchain isn’t just immutable because it’s a blockchain.
I have yet to see any Blockchain application that wouldn’t be better without a Blockchain
Isn’t crypto a good use case here actually? No cental database.
Crypto yes, cryptocoin nah
Stop using “crypto” as a synonym for Blockchain. Crypto means cryptography and it’s used in the communication between your browser and websites.
You are 100% correct. I meant to say blockchain.
Best of luck to them.
It’s true in essentially all industries, but it’s especially obvious in rideshare that there’s a layer of parasites who get paid far too much money for nothing beyond the fact that they won the fight for the position of “parasite who gets paid far too much money for doing nothing.”
Anything that might even just decrease the number of overpaid parasites would be a benefit not just to the concerned industry, but to society as a whole.
I bet what they all have in common is that they all used advertising in order to get to their position.
They’re just taking their cut for figuring out how to avoid labor laws.
Cities should socialize ride shares, delivery shares, bike/scooter shares.
Sure some guy invented an app to make them all slightly easier, and he made a ton a money. Cool. Good for him. Time to make the technology work for people.
I think Berlin did that with MyTaxi
cities should socialize. the rest of the comment is unnecessary actually so is cities everything should socialize everything
Really excited for Waymo to change the world.
Going to free up so much labour. Although I haven’t had too many issues with Uber, taxi drivers can be an absolute disgrace can’t wait for a few of those people to be out of a job where they exploit people.
All you need to do is find a way of getting people in touch with you for your service. Mainly the reason I hate these companies is because they do provide a valuable service for the drivers in that they have a system to get the people who need a ride connected with the people who give rides; but they demand too much of the profit for what work they actually provide. The ones doing the real work get peanuts and the tool provider is taking in the big bucks.
I mean, I’m sure we could get a non-profit started that offers the exact same service. Just get drivers to take on the responsibility of covering any accidents, etc. It could run on donations like Wikipedia. The drivers get 100% of the profits…I’m sure there’s be unforeseen snags, but I really wish we could start “disrupting” industries by literally taking these tech fucks’ share of the market and redistribute that shit to drivers.
Rides would probably be cheaper, no surge pricing, and a good ol’ stick in the eye of the tech industry.
The insurance is part of why it works. I looked up commercial insurance rates for a taxi and it’s like $2,000 every six months. And while that’s doable if rates are the same or only a little lower it’s still one hell of a gut check. Because you don’t know if you’re going to get customers. Uber and Lyft absorbed that risk.
So what’s likely to happen in the near future is uninsured or under insured open source ride-sharing that will need to crown a winning app or two before it gets predictable enough for people to pay that.
And that means it also needs to survive that stage with Uber and Lyft strongly messaging normal people about safety and quality concerns.
a lot of people use rented vehicles
Holy shit, why not just read the article? This is exactly what the interview is about.
Why do people read the comments, but not the articles? I don’t get it.
Because substack.
fuck it, even add in real ride shares, where you say ‘I’m going to x place, I’m willing to go y amount out of my way and pick up z passengers’
I don’t get what happens in the backend, but you can’t convince me that these companies should be multi-billion dollar companies.
Am I crazy or is everyone just describing car service? Lots of major cities have private storefronts with a group of drivers and a single person that answers the phones.
The only thing those businesses were ever missing was a good online presence and/or a smartphone app.
Which is, of course, no small thing and the thing that makes uber/lyft thousands of times better than the car service model.
I disagree with this. Uber and Lyft just did it at scale. My local car service can make a website with payment processing without knowing any coding. They don’t need a full service app with a global presence. It’s not trivial but totally doable.
How old are you? Did you spend any time in the pre Uber days trying to get a cab? Wrong part of NYC? Good luck. Out in the suburbs and you don’t know a local cab company’s number? Lol never going to happen.
The electronic payment system is not what made it such a big improvement. It’s the ability to instantly call a cab almost anywhere, at any time, with no knowledge of anything local. It’s the connection between the drivers and the passengers that was the big leap.
I grew up in New York City, called the same car service from my neighborhood wherever I was to get home. The main problem is the suburbs, I agree.
In my suburbs, if there were enough of us around, there was someone who knew the local cab company’s number too. Although that was also not great late at night. The issue is that when you are not from the area and don’t have someone who knows the number. This is what Uber (mostly) fixed.
Fuck yea!
I wonder if a P2P ride-sharing system could be made to work. Or if it would be rife with scams and dangers.
Considering Uber is already pretty bad, take a guess.
Idk, considering everyone’s parents said never to get into a car with a stranger and they have like somewhere close to fifth sigma error levels in safety, it seems more safe than people would assume. Considering the rumor is you need almost no background check to do it.
Anything is bad. Just like how Uber is shit today, P2P won’t be any different. A system where everyone can advertise themselves as a taxi is unnecessarily dangerous. Just use regular normal taxi. Anyone can become a taxi in that system, and that’s bad.
Normal taxi still refuse to not be disgusting inside and 20 year old cars with drivers who don’t turn on the ac. Not everyone lives in a global city.
The tech subs discover taxis
Kind of a dumb point. I suspect you didn’t really have much experience using taxis pre-uber. This is all about trying to replace the uber/lyft model with a similar thing, but where most of the profits go to the drivers and not uber/lyft.
All the pieces exist… GPS location, mapping, money transfer e-commerce software, the fediverse social platform. What is missing is the social platform integration of all those separate pieces.
You mean Craigslist?
This is the part of the decentralized “Gig economy” model that no one seems to have a good answer for, how do you filter out bad actors or even known threats without an organization calling the shots?
I think the answer is pretty simple, honestly. Have an organization whose purpose is just to filter out bad actors and maintain the technology. Just don’t be greedy or heirarchal about it. The tech staff gets paid from a small percentage from the providers.
Should be easy, right? Right??!?
But why do that when I can just make tons of money by taking it away from the good actors?