> You _could_ make this have an indistinguishable customer experience.
I don't really see how this could work. the first issue is getting the pricing information from the drivers. are they willing to set a flat per mile rate, or are they going tailor fares on an individual basis, after browsing the currently requested rides? the latter would make it impossible to just compute a price from querying a db; there might need to be multiple rounds of bidding before the rider and driver could settle on a price. the former case would not be quite as complex, but uber would still have to ask the customer how they value wait time vs. price or decide for the customer.
i personally like the model of bidding on rides, but most people use uber/lyft because it's as simple as opening up the app, committing to a ride, and hopping in after a few minutes. i don't think it can work that seamlessly if every driver sets their own (possibly complex) fare scheme.
I don't really see how this could work. the first issue is getting the pricing information from the drivers. are they willing to set a flat per mile rate, or are they going tailor fares on an individual basis, after browsing the currently requested rides? the latter would make it impossible to just compute a price from querying a db; there might need to be multiple rounds of bidding before the rider and driver could settle on a price. the former case would not be quite as complex, but uber would still have to ask the customer how they value wait time vs. price or decide for the customer.
i personally like the model of bidding on rides, but most people use uber/lyft because it's as simple as opening up the app, committing to a ride, and hopping in after a few minutes. i don't think it can work that seamlessly if every driver sets their own (possibly complex) fare scheme.