Let me tell you why decentralized platforms are the solution to shitty shitshows like Uber.
So this morning after the gym, my Uber driver, a very nice man, asks me, "Is this yours?" as he shows me a wad of cash.
"Oh no.. it's not mine. Was it the customer before you? Maybe it'll be your tip for the day, haha!"
And he laughs, and he says, well, it's probably the previous rider's, but we had a not so good conversation because he was an Uber employee. I saw the address that I dropped him off at, and I knew he was an Uber employee.
So I'm like, okay, interesting. Why was his ride with him so bad?
Apparently that guy was a fucking asshole. First of all, my uber driver asked him about what was happening with the corporate kerfuffle and they begin discussing the fact that Travis even though he's not CEO anymore, he holds most of the shares. He's planning on bringing in a top investor in Japan, Softbank or whatever, and splitting the company or something to dilute the shares or whatever (this was fuzzy to me), but basically, he wants to be like Steve Jobs, who came back after Apple ousted him.
But quote from my driver: Steve Jobs fundamentally was an honest man. This guy is a sex offender, and a thief. He's not like Steve Jobs. This is totally different.
My uber driver then continued to tell me about his experience with how he lost 10cents, 20cents, random monies that didn't end up in his total earnings. Uber said, I don't know, we can't explain, and you don't need to know. WHAT THE!!!!
Anyway, the point is. I told him this: what I'm working on. Briefly, I told him about the idea of decentralized ridesharing, straight from passenger to driver. No middleman, no shitty Uber, just transparency and a network of volunteers to run the system.
As DJ Khaled would say, this is major key. And we need to find a solution sooner than later.
P.S. I'd like to add that the Uber employee literally said to my driver, "If you don't like Uber, don't drive for us then!" ......................................... just silence to that