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The problem is that the prices would climb uncontrollably and against the will of the members, who would be scared or forbidden from violating the price control

The problem is that the prices would climb uncontrollably and against the will of the members, who would be scared or forbidden from violating the price controls (and even if they did, the public would assume they're charging more). Basically it'd be a taxi service, and taxi services suck. Taxi services suck because the drivers bargain against the consumers, and against eachother.

samstave 9y ago
What is astonishing to me is that no genius has revealed the algorythm which can calc the following: cost-of::car, fuel, wait-time, distance, wear, depreciation, prosective-client-areas(adjacency, rider-sub-base), etc... == rate for ride. and this be a known fucking formula that is the basis on which pricing is held - and then the white-label services are just bidding over driver payment %.... also - tipping should not be allowed. /r/changemyview
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  Wouldn't that algorithm just give the pure cost of the ride? Why would anyone drive for that if they're not going to make any money? And as far as tipping, you'd need to ensure your formula has a minimum so that drivers are making a living wage. Otherwise disallowing tipping means you're just trying to save face while not caring that the drivers are actually able to make a living.
  - samstave 9y ago
    Good points... what would you suggest?
    - s73ver_ 9y ago
      Something that takes into account those things I said, and allows tipping. If you don't want to tip, that's fine, but disallowing those people from making that extra income is just wrong.
- SilasX 9y ago
  That was Sidecar, AIUI. Drivers figured out their own formula for what it would take them to do a job, and riders got to make the tradeoff of how much more to pay for how much nicer a car/driver. It didn't explicitly handle a tipping/no tipping premium though. It also went out of business. I suspect that was because Uber/Lyft were much better at straddling the line between "your a contractor" and "we can commoditize the experience".

samstave 9y ago

What is astonishing to me is that no genius has revealed the algorythm which can calc the following: cost-of::car, fuel, wait-time, distance, wear, depreciation, prosective-client-areas(adjacency, rider-sub-base), etc... == rate for ride. and this be a known fucking formula that is the basis on which pricing is held - and then the white-label services are just bidding over driver payment %.... also - tipping should not be allowed. /r/changemyview

s73ver_ 9y ago
Wouldn't that algorithm just give the pure cost of the ride? Why would anyone drive for that if they're not going to make any money? And as far as tipping, you'd need to ensure your formula has a minimum so that drivers are making a living wage. Otherwise disallowing tipping means you're just trying to save face while not caring that the drivers are actually able to make a living.
- samstave 9y ago
  Good points... what would you suggest?
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    Something that takes into account those things I said, and allows tipping. If you don't want to tip, that's fine, but disallowing those people from making that extra income is just wrong.
SilasX 9y ago
That was Sidecar, AIUI. Drivers figured out their own formula for what it would take them to do a job, and riders got to make the tradeoff of how much more to pay for how much nicer a car/driver. It didn't explicitly handle a tipping/no tipping premium though. It also went out of business. I suspect that was because Uber/Lyft were much better at straddling the line between "your a contractor" and "we can commoditize the experience".