Local, non-profit ride sharing platform to launch next month (Austin: 2013, insurance)

[Westerner92]

Out of the fiasco that city council and Uber/Lyft have made may come some good after all. RideAustin is built by Austinites for Austin, and it promises to comply with (what I still think are unnecessary) regulations and put more money in drivers' and customers' pockets by being not-for-profit.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really want this to take off. Using local tech talent to build a non-profit to fill a vital need is exactly in the spirit of Austin. It's exactly the kind of communal, yet innovative attitude that has made Austin the amazing place it is. Let's hope this is as good as it sounds.

Ride Austin

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

Out of the fiasco that city council and Uber/Lyft have made may come some good after all. RideAustin is built by Austinites for Austin, and it promises to comply with (what I still think are unnecessary) regulations and put more money in drivers' and customers' pockets by being not-for-profit.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really want this to take off. Using local tech talent to build a non-profit to fill a vital need is exactly in the spirit of Austin. It's exactly the kind of communal, yet innovative attitude that has made Austin the amazing place it is. Let's hope this is as good as it sounds.

Ride Austin

Heard it on the radio. Hoping the city doesn't try to crush it under regulations. Also hope that the people involved can manage what is probably a quite complex business and haven't bitten off more than they can chew .

[Aquitaine]

It has been tried before, though not with the blessing of the City Council.

HeyRide launched in 2012 and was bought by SideCar in 2013. SideCar went bust last year.

Getting drivers and a decent app are both fairly easy. Getting good logistics and insurance is not.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Heard it on the radio. Hoping the city doesn't try to crush it under regulations. Also hope that the people involved can manage what is probably a quite complex business and haven't bitten off more than they can chew .

My fear too. I would be concerned that the city will still come up with more red-tape, regulatory BS to put them out of business. The cab companies have spend way too much money on campaigns to ensure they stay a monopoly.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

It has been tried before, though not with the blessing of the City Council.

HeyRide launched in 2012 and was bought by SideCar in 2013. SideCar went bust last year.

Getting drivers and a decent app are both fairly easy. Getting good logistics and insurance is not.

Slightly different situation, as when HeyRide was operating, no TNCs were legal in Austin.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...ms-remain.html

Then Sidecar was trying to compete (nationwide, not just in Austin) with Uber/Lyft, and were just outspent by that duopoly.

This new one doesn't have either of those issues.

[woodinvilleguy]

It can't succeed, it isn't UBER...... I wish them luck.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Heard it on the radio. Hoping the city doesn't try to crush it under regulations. Also hope that the people involved can manage what is probably a quite complex business and haven't bitten off more than they can chew .

The article I read on it this morning said that they were more than happy to comply with the city's regulations. Guess they didn't get the memo that in order to be successful you have to throw yourself on the floor and kick and scream and demand special snowflake status if asked to comply with regulations.

[Denver303TJC]

Thanks for mentioning it, that does sound interesting about RideAustin.

I tried out GetMe yesterday and wasn't overly impressed with the pricing. The driver was friendly and seemed like a good guy, so it was good on the customer service side, but after researching what it would have cost me to take a taxi, I may have saved about $1 or less by using GetMe versus taking good ole Yellow Cab. I took it from near the Appleplex to the Domain and as per their receipt, it was $2.05 per mile, $0.23 per minute and a $1.50 in state and security fees (plus tax). I won't hurry back to use them, unless it's a short trip (2 miles'ish), or if it's late at night, since they state that they don't do surge pricing like Uber/Lyft used to do, which would then be beneficial.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Denver303TJC

Thanks for mentioning it, that does sound interesting about RideAustin.

I tried out GetMe yesterday and wasn't overly impressed with the pricing. The driver was friendly and seemed like a good guy, so it was good on the customer service side, but after researching what it would have cost me to take a taxi, I may have saved about $1 or less by using GetMe versus taking good ole Yellow Cab. I took it from near the Appleplex to the Domain and as per their receipt, it was $2.05 per mile, $0.23 per minute and a $1.50 in state and security fees (plus tax). I won't hurry back to use them, unless it's a short trip (2 miles'ish), or if it's late at night, since they state that they don't do surge pricing like Uber/Lyft used to do, which would then be beneficial.

if they dont do surge pricing then you are going to wait a long time. The whole point of surge pricing is to pull drivers into the pool to increase supply.

[Denver303TJC]

Originally Posted by Austin97

if they dont do surge pricing then you are going to wait a long time. The whole point of surge pricing is to pull drivers into the pool to increase supply.

Oh my, yeah, that ain't no fun, waitin a long time, I reckon.