promethea.incorporated

shlevy:

socialjusticemunchkin:

Arcade City creates an open marketplace between drivers and riders. It takes 10 percent of the rides paid through the app, which confirms transactions using the blockchain, the digital payment technology also used for bitcoin, but also allow drivers to establish their own forms of financial transaction. It plans to eventually offer ridesharing insurance and payment processing.

Drivers and riders are encouraged to set a predetermined rate before agreeing to a ride. Arcade City drivers are quick to respond to ride requests. Since there is no established reviewing system, many drivers post screenshots of their Uber ratings and reviews. Right now drivers and riders are encouraged to negotiate a price and method of payment before pickup. When the app eventually relaunches, blockchain payments will allow payments to be processed directly between the interested parties. No third party encryption service will be required to play the matchmaker and validation of data.

In David’s long-term vision of Arcade City, the app will have its own rating system and community features. It will also allow riders to build relationships with preferred drivers, as opposed to the matchmaking black box that assigns Uber drivers and riders.

I apparently have the magic powers of conjuring things into existence just by describing them.

On the spectrum of Uber alternatives, Arcade City has been labeled as the black market solution. Other, more Uber-esque ridesharing apps like GetMe, Dryver, Ride Austin, Wingz, and Fare are trying to fill in the void left by Uber’s exodus from Austin, and the city is even looking to allocate taxpayer dollars to fund a homegrown ridesharing service.

The phrase “black market” simplifies the mission of Arcade City, however, because it really seeks to build an infrastructure to disrupt any centralized ridesharing intermediator. In fact, the City of Austin has confirmed that Arcade City is legal, as long as the ride doesn’t exceed the federal reimbursement rate of 54 cents per mile.

Boo price ceilings, but everything else sounds reasonable. Compared to the alternatives I mean; why the cuck does anyone think creating a government ridesharing service would be an A) legitimate and B) useful way of using robbed money?

I know the guy behind this. On a personal level he is… unsavory to put it best, and I think his reddit AMA speaks for itself on a professional level (Note that throwaway_bob177’s question, unanswered on the AMA, was asked on Chris’s facebook first, and then Chris told him to post it to the AMA which he did right after.)

So all we need is someone better to implement the idea then. Unfortunately I’m only at the stage where I’m learning the things I need to do such things so I can’t do this myself YGM.