
Ask HN: Anyone interested in building a open-source non-profit Uber competitor? - noego
I read the following NYTimes article about how Uber drivers don&#x27;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&#x2F;Lyft to treat their drivers better.<p>Needless to say, there is no potential for riches. This would be a labor of love.<p>Would anyone be interested in working on this?<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nyti.ms&#x2F;2VKYROJ
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mchannon
Uber makes 25% on paper and about 39% in practice off the rides they book.
That's a lot more than I expected.

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.

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oneowl
I'm interested in building commission free marketplaces. Some of the
advantages that a system like this can have is

\- 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.

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anater
This is a cool idea and would be worthwhile but I’m sure there are significant
(non software related) logistical issues that won’t be solved by FOSS.
Handling driver-rider disputes and general safety concerns, for instance. Part
of what makes Uber viable is they own a certain degree of liability in the
customer experience, even if it comes at the expense of drivers.

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quickthrower2
What if the app and site are open source, but each city a private company or
companies use the oss to create their own service. Then you have a
decentralised system and the businesses add value by dealing with disputes and
payment processing.

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karmelapple
Contact RideAustin perhaps; they’re not open source yet, but they were
considering it. I’d love for more cities to build services like that.

(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://www.rideaustin.com/)

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pabs3
Will this be something like libretaxi?

[http://libretaxi.org/](http://libretaxi.org/)
[https://github.com/ro31337/libretaxi](https://github.com/ro31337/libretaxi)

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noego
Thanks for the link. I'm glad to see others working on this. I don't really
like their cash/Bitcoin only strategy. Similarly for haggling for your fare. I
think these two factors might be deal breakers for most users and drivers.
I'll look more into their app though.

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notahacker
Austin has a nonprofit rideshare app formed after Uber and Lyft pulled out for
regulator-related reasons which more closely clones their business model
[http://www.rideaustin.com/](http://www.rideaustin.com/)

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...

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atomashpolskiy
Sounds good on paper, so I might be interested. Need some details though,
specifically, who else will be participating, as working with a good team is
significant part of the fun.

~~~
noego
Nice to hear, I can certainly send you more details over email. I don't see an
email address listed on your profile though - you can find my email address in
my public profile.

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badinsie
I think such a software is inevitable. Bitcoin has already solved most of the
problems that would be faced.

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metvas
Bitcoin is to unstable in day hour to hour price levels. Example Bitcoin is
5000 usd at 9 am and 5026 at 10 am so I pay 9 am price to go to work via uber
and my partner pays 10 am price to go to work ??? Will never work until
stability is something we can count on. going home you don't want to hear that
one.

