Uber/Lyft advertise they charge a 25% commission to drivers for using their platform. But research by ridester.com shows the actual commission to be as high as 55%.
55% for connecting the driver to the rider despite the driver taking on most of the risk and work? While a majority of the revenue could be going to the platform, the driver still has to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance, and car payments.
Solution:
A shared mobility network of riders, drivers, and moderators with the minimum take rates necessary to incentivize people to build and maintain the network.
- Ratings from riders, drivers, and moderators can be stored in an immutable track record.
- Automatic payments can be made through smart contracts as soon as the ride ends.
- Dispute resolution and background checks can be handled using a group of paid but independent moderators.
- Cheaper rides could result in lower car ownership (think Tesla autonomous fleet), which could reduce the traffic and environmental impact.
- Pricing can be calculated and shared more transparently with both riders and drivers.
The same concept can be applied to food delivery like Uber Eats and grocery delivery like Instacart where the take rates can be even higher than ridesharing.
Cutting out the middlemen allows the riders to pay less and drivers to make more. Software companies like Uber can be replaced with pure software solutions built and maintained by the community.