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LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

libretaxi.org

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Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#72

Post by bpierre »

About the trust and reputation issue, I think blockchain technologies could play an important role for decentralized services like this.

I would like to see a multipurpose reputation / trust system based on the blockchain, exposing all the needed features as a simple library and / or HTTP API, ready to be implemented by apps and websites.

I think we are still in a period where a lot of products are built either in a centralized way, or all on the blockchain and decentralized technologies (like IPFS). It makes sense as we are still in the experimentation phase, but it could change in the near future. People could start using the blockchain where it is the most efficient today, as a brick part of a product (e.g. to build a solid decentralized reputation system), instead of being the foundation layer of the product.

Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#74

Post by exception_e »

Might not be a bad idea to mark this as "beta" on the website and list some of the roadmap ideas being worked on: https://github.com/ro31337/libretaxi#technical-roadmap-unord... to ease public concerns.

This is a _great_ idea, but it is really early on and needs a safety and open-source-friendly CC integration before being advertised in my opinion.

Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#76

Post by tom_mellior »

joeyspn wrote: post #66
reubensutton wrote: post #6

My concern with this is the problem of ensuring the safety of the person driving the cab and the real identity of the rider. Lots of drivers will be reluctant because they can be stiffed on the bill. Lots of passengers will be reluctant to use it due to the inherent risk of riding with what is essentially a stranger.

BlaBlaCar [0] operates/ed only with community reviews (for drivers and passengers) and is doing just fine in EU... It is in fact so successful, that govs and press always talk about "services like blablacar and uber" (they're classified as basically the same kind of service) [0] https://www.blablacar.com/

As far as I understand, BlaBlaCar has some centralized controls on your identity since payments go through them and changing your payment info is not quite as easy as making up a new nickname.

That's a big difference to an anonymous-by-default cash-only network.

Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#77

Post by timlod »

tom_mellior wrote: post #76
joeyspn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BlaBlaCar [0] operates/ed only with community reviews (for drivers and passengers) and is doing just fine in EU... It is in fact so successful, that govs and press always talk about "services like blablacar and uber" (they're classified as basically the same kind of service) [0] https://www.blablacar.com/

As far as I understand, BlaBlaCar has some centralized controls on your identity since payments go through them and changing your payment info is not quite as easy as making up a new nickname. That's a big difference to an anonymous-by-default cash-only network.

You used to be able not to use any of their payment services. Also identity verification processes that they offer/ed are/were not obligatory. So in many cases references were all people used to trust someone.

(I have been using the service for years)

Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#78

Post by mschuster91 »

jasode wrote: post #54

>, pay cash upon arrival. Paying cash is a non-starter. I haven't been to a bank ATM in over 10 years. I don't even know what my card's secret PIN is to make a cash withdrawal. Being virtually cashless by using credit-cards for everything is very common in professional circles. A credit-card is simpler and the exact line-item amount showing up on my monthly statement helps me keep track of travel expenses. (Also, man…

> Paying cash is a non-starter.

That certainly depends on the country. Good luck living cashless in Europe, especially in Germany where virtually no small store, food vendor etc. has a CC reader.

Re: LibreTaxi – A free and open source alternative to Uber and Lyft

#79

Post by slowmotiony »

tom_mellior wrote: post #76
joeyspn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BlaBlaCar [0] operates/ed only with community reviews (for drivers and passengers) and is doing just fine in EU... It is in fact so successful, that govs and press always talk about "services like blablacar and uber" (they're classified as basically the same kind of service) [0] https://www.blablacar.com/

As far as I understand, BlaBlaCar has some centralized controls on your identity since payments go through them and changing your payment info is not quite as easy as making up a new nickname. That's a big difference to an anonymous-by-default cash-only network.

They operated for years without accepting payments, the payment is a recent thing.
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