These days, you’re either an Uber person or a Lyft person. Your alliance may change with the passing new cycle. Like, at the time your correspondent is writing this story, for example, who knows?
What we do know: we’re still in elementary school when it comes to ride-sharing services.
The new kid in class? LibreTaxi.
Promoting itself as an alternative to the ubiquitous ride-sharing apps, LibreTaxi differentiates itself by taking no money for using the service, dealing exclusively in cash (but BitCoin’s on the way), allowing price ne***iation and being open-source software.
Also, because it’s based inthe Telegram messaging app, it is compatible on pretty much any platform: Android, iPhone, iPad, desktop, web, etc.
Knowing Uber deals in the billions (both in profits and losses), a ride-sharing competitor washing itself of potential moola seems suspect. But Roman Pushkin, the one-man coding team behind LibreTaxi, is most concerned with access.
"I made it for a remote area where I was born and found that people around the world like it, " he said in an interview with Bitcoinist. Therein lies the main benefit: in areas where Uber and Lyft have not expanded because there’s no profit to be made, LibreTaxi can flourish, because Pushkin isn’t interested in the service as a business.
"Also, you can never predict what type of taxi you want – boat, helicopter, rickshaw, etc. LibreTaxi is open-sourced under MIT license. People can update it relatively easy or add vehicle types and run Uber-like services for their areas independently, " he said in that same interview. So next time you’re on an adventure abroad, pull up LibreTaxi and maybe you’ll be able to barter some extra socks for a ride in a sidecar.
Great. Can’t wait. Downside? The current technical roadmap raises some concerns, chiefly:
- Make it safer for passengers and drivers
- Add drivers/passengers rating
- Make it easier to use and safer for moms/dads and children
- Make it easier to use for people with disabilities
Seeing as they reiterate their desire to make the service safer, specifically highlighting "moms/dads and children, " we’re gonna go ahead and sit this first round out. Shoot us a Telegram when we know we’ll make it to the destination.
