Comment on Killing the Middlemen in the Rideshare Industry
psilotop@lemmy.world 8 months ago
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.
EatATaco@lemm.ee 8 months ago
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 8 months ago
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.
EatATaco@lemm.ee 8 months ago
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 8 months ago
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.