# Cooperatively owned ride hailing app



## Theo Campbell (Jun 22, 2017)

Hi all, 

I was wondering if any drivers had considered creating a cooperatively owned ride hailing app. i came across one in Denver called Green Taxi which now has around 35% of the local market share. 

The technology is not that complicated to develop and if all the drivers are on a cooperatively owned platform customers will naturally follow. 

What do you think?


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## clair445 (May 23, 2017)

I tried to find them but every article says that they are about to go bankrupt.


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## Theo Campbell (Jun 22, 2017)

The one in Denver Colorado (USA). I cant post a link.

I think they are going pretty welll and could not find anything about them going bankrupt...


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## Paul Collins (Dec 12, 2016)

'The technology is not that complicated to develop" what the? I am an app developer and I can tell you that to start from scratch would require at least $2.5 million.


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## Theo Campbell (Jun 22, 2017)

You could use something like LibreTaxi which is a free and open source ride hailing app to start. Obviously it wont have the same tech support as Uber but i think as a cooperative drivers could contribute less than what uber already charges in fees and develop something pretty good. Besides if all the drivers left Uber for a more clunky app customers would still use it because there would not be enough drivers on uber.


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## clair445 (May 23, 2017)

Theo Campbell said:


> You could use something like LibreTaxi which is a free and open source ride hailing app to start. Obviously it wont have the same tech support as Uber but i think as a cooperative drivers could contribute less than what uber already charges in fees and develop something pretty good. Besides if all the drivers left Uber for a more clunky app customers would still use it because there would not be enough drivers on uber.


So your plan is to persuade the 50,000 drivers on Uber to stop driving and join you and your clunky app?


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Theo Campbell said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I was wondering if any drivers had considered creating a cooperatively owned ride hailing app. i came across one in Denver called Green Taxi which now has around 35% of the local market share.
> 
> ...


Need drivers call it the GreenAnt Patrol


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

Paul Collins said:


> 'The technology is not that complicated to develop" what the? I am an app developer and I can tell you that to start from scratch would require at least $2.5 million.


Yes clearly you are not a developer and that $2.5 million figure is rubbish.


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

clair445 said:


> So your plan is to persuade the 50,000 drivers on Uber to stop driving and join you and your clunky app?


Um you mean persuade a new breed of charity drivers AntPatrol

Can anyone imagine the new breed of drivers?what kind of drivers will produce?my mind only boggles


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## soontobeautomated (Apr 4, 2017)

Uber is valued at 69 billion US. If someone else was to come along quickly and drivers switched to local competitors before the driverless cars are launched, Uber would disappear overnight. Would be great to support an organisation that can get decent market share AND comply with (moral) tax obligations too.


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## NZShaker (Feb 1, 2016)

soontobeautomated said:


> comply with (moral) tax obligations too.


Oh you mean GoCatch...however they do not have anywhere near any market share :-(


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## soontobeautomated (Apr 4, 2017)

NZShaker said:


> Oh you mean GoCatch...however they do not have anywhere near any market share :-(


 I know, thats why I did not specify them. Still waiting for someone. lol


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## Paul Collins (Dec 12, 2016)

Surge Donut said:


> Yes clearly you are not a developer and that $2.5 million figure is rubbish.


I have 60 apps and $2.5 is conservative.


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

Paul Collins said:


> I have 60 apps and $2.5 is conservative.


Ok if you say so


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## huxtee (Mar 1, 2017)

Paul Collins said:


> 'The technology is not that complicated to develop" what the? I am an app developer and I can tell you that to start from scratch would require at least $2.5 million.


Lot of things don't have to be made from scratch, that would be costly. Could use google map API to estimate travel/pick up time and for navigation. Also should be some exsisting open source projects/code that could be intergrated.


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## Paul Collins (Dec 12, 2016)

huxtee said:


> Lot of things don't have to be made from scratch, that would be costly. Could use google map API to estimate travel/pick up time and for navigation. Also should be some exsisting open source projects/code that could be intergrated.


Goggle have 300 people allocated to uber maps. I have talked with two of them.


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

Paul Collins said:


> Goggle have 300 people allocated to uber maps. I have talked with two of them.


Maybe that's the problem, they talk too much. Uber maps are notoriously unreliable.


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## Theo Campbell (Jun 22, 2017)

clair445 said:


> So your plan is to persuade the 50,000 drivers on Uber to stop driving and join you and your clunky app?


By the looks of a lot of comments on this forum people don't particularly love driving for Uber. Also don't need to persuade 50 000 drivers across the country - Green Taxi in Denver, CO only operates in 1 city and they now have around 35% market share. Taking a dent of market share in one city would be more feasible.

Imagine if drivers could control the fees the app takes, vote on the rules in a way that supports their ability to earn money, not have money extracted from them etc. The point is Uber's market capitalisation (69 Billion) means they will keep exploiting drivers to keep shareholders happy. In fact, they are actively trying to make drivers obsolete altogether by investing substantially in driverless cars.

I am in no way suggesting it would be easy or strait forward. Just wondering if people had considered it/whether people would consider it.

There are organisations that would support this kind of initiative - in South Australia the state government recently ran a 'sharing economy' challenge to support this kind of thing. Similarly, the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals are interested in supporting this kind of initiative.


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## Waingro (Aug 29, 2016)

The failure of Go Catch just shows how hard it is to have a success in the App. If the rides are not coming you will have no drivers. No Drivers no Business. Uber has an unbelievable business model that can crush any new competitor. Just look at the Drivers not getting their money by Wednesday and the forum has an earthquake.


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## uber_driver (Apr 6, 2016)

ok guys start putting the money in my account


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Waingro said:


> The failure of Go Catch just shows how hard it is to have a success in the App. If the rides are not coming you will have no drivers. No Drivers no Business. Uber has an unbelievable business model that can crush any new competitor. Just look at the Drivers not getting their money by Wednesday and the forum has an earthquake.


I get jobs,but not on large scales like Uber


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## Waingro (Aug 29, 2016)

Post your net earnings per hour via Ricdam spreadsheet and then I will be convinced 
2 rides per hours with a $17 per trip average ride over 1000 fares if you are not beating that you are losing money.


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Waingro said:


> The failure of Go Catch just shows how hard it is to have a success in the App. If the rides are not coming you will have no drivers. No Drivers no Business. Uber has an unbelievable business model that can crush any new competitor. Just look at the Drivers not getting their money by Wednesday and the forum has an earthquake.


Uber was the same when they first come on the scene,burning of cash and waste of money,toxic culture,failure in China,Money pit Uber is,cant retain their drivers solidly,deactivation of a wink of an eye and so on. Well put in perspective lets see what happens for the future,I dont trust them,take while you can know and if Uber still exists or some one will take over,just like what occuredi n China! Lyft is Ubers second,but they arent big enough and investors havent been stooged to invest the growth of Lyft.But Didi is expanding globally,they even might buy out the global operation,so dont put your eggs in one basket with Uber survivng,who knows.


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## clair445 (May 23, 2017)

george manousaridis said:


> Uber was the same when they first come on the scene,burning of cash and waste of money,toxic culture,failure in China,Money pit Uber is,cant retain their drivers solidly,deactivation of a wink of an eye and so on. Well put in perspective lets see what happens for the future,I dont trust them,take while you can know and if Uber still exists or some one will take over,just like what occuredi n China! Lyft is Ubers second,but they arent big enough and investors havent been stooged to invest the growth of Lyft.But Didi is expanding globally,they even might buy out the global operation,so dont put your eggs in one basket with Uber survivng,who knows.


They did sell the China business for $7 billion after putting in only $2 billion. I call that a pretty smart move. And for Didi buying Uber that's just ridiculous. Didi is worth half of what Uber's worth.


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## ubermercury (Nov 29, 2016)

Surge Donut said:


> Maybe that's the problem, they talk too much. Uber maps are notoriously unreliable.


Isn't Uber maps actually Apple's?


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## Paul Collins (Dec 12, 2016)

ubermercury said:


> Isn't Uber maps actually Apple's?


No, it was google Maps and they are moving to tom tom.


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