Online car pooling services like Uber/Ola charges 25% of the fare which is a big margin for the drivers. They says it is for their premium services - for eg they uses map box API to show the current location of riders and drivers, the cloud services, the customer care services - all adds cost to the company. But why all these unwanted luxuries are required when the ride is for just an hour or so.
In the past either we go to a taxi stand and book a service negotiating with them or we will keep a list of nearby taxi drivers. The problem with that was we have to bargain with the local drivers and many a time this will lead to an argument losing our peace of mind. This is where ride sharing companies found a business opportunity. One reason people chose Uber is to avoid an argument and get a rate that is moderate. But ultimately it led to failure of taxi service industry and even the Uber drivers are also paid poorly these days.
Now taxi drivers can form a community and achieve the same with a properly organised approach. A little technology will help to put the things in right track. Here is the idea.
We need an app that allows riders and drivers to register and login. The drivers can update their status to ‘Available’ or ‘Busy’. This along with their location will be updated in the server. When a rider searches from a location the app finds the cars available at a radius and sends this list to riders mobile along with their distance from his position. Rider can then select based on the distance and the rating. Of course the redundant luxuries available with Uber will not be available here but it serves the purpose. Think of it as bringing the old bargain model online. There is no negotiation. Prices are fixed for kilometres and the driver should show the user the kilometre. The user can use Google maps to find the exact distance and negotiate if anything is wrong.
In the past either we go to a taxi stand and book a service negotiating with them or we will keep a list of nearby taxi drivers. The problem with that was we have to bargain with the local drivers and many a time this will lead to an argument losing our peace of mind. This is where ride sharing companies found a business opportunity. One reason people chose Uber is to avoid an argument and get a rate that is moderate. But ultimately it led to failure of taxi service industry and even the Uber drivers are also paid poorly these days.
Now taxi drivers can form a community and achieve the same with a properly organised approach. A little technology will help to put the things in right track. Here is the idea.
We need an app that allows riders and drivers to register and login. The drivers can update their status to ‘Available’ or ‘Busy’. This along with their location will be updated in the server. When a rider searches from a location the app finds the cars available at a radius and sends this list to riders mobile along with their distance from his position. Rider can then select based on the distance and the rating. Of course the redundant luxuries available with Uber will not be available here but it serves the purpose. Think of it as bringing the old bargain model online. There is no negotiation. Prices are fixed for kilometres and the driver should show the user the kilometre. The user can use Google maps to find the exact distance and negotiate if anything is wrong.