lol. I'm sure people, especially other taxi drivers, would love to abuse my services until it drove me out of business. That doesn't mean you cannot put mechanisms into place to mitigate that risk. Call me naive, but I still believe in the good inherent in humanity. With that being said, you would deter people from consistently using your service without leaving any tip. I don't believe I wouldn't be able to refuse rides to people like that, either...
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And just that easily, you have proven that your idea won't work.
If your services are truly free and without any obligation to tip, you CANNOT bar those people that don't tip.
Otherwise, you are demanding payment for your services or your services won't be available.
You are trying to run a taxi service on the honor system. It won't work.
But for a lesson in this humanity, I suggest you look up, read about, and watch the few videos available on the Internet about the FREE restaurants that have been popping up around the country: One of them is a replica of Panera Bread - run by the "Panera Cares" foundation and so far, 2 years later, it has been a rather large success. I hope, if not myself, we can find it in ourselves to do more things like this and change the way we do business fundamentally for the better
Yeah... the difference? A restaurant doesn't have the liability you do.
You see, the problem with your scheme is that you don't want to pay by the mile or time... but all your expenses are tied to miles and/or time.
Let's break it down.
You assemble a group of drivers for your little venture.
None of them can use the insurance they currently possess when their car is out for hire. Therefore, you have to buy taxi insurance... for everyone. This is priced by the driver's record, the vehicle and, yes, the miles driven.
The use of the cars is calculated by the IRS at .555 dollars per mile. This is, of course, an average. How will you make sure that the cars your drivers are using are reliable and safe? Why, you ask for mechanic's reviews (that you pay for) and routine maintenance logs. You can't avoid this, it is part of your hack's license.... and with personal vehicles, it is going to be a goat rodeo.
Oh yeah, what are you going to do if a driver does break down? Are you going to have another driver pick up the fare? Who gets the tip? Who pays for the repair and tow? Who makes sure that the fare left on the side of the road is safe until another car comes by? I don't know about you, but after being left on the side of the road I am not likely to be in a tipping mood... so the rescue driver... who pays him/her for their time since they won't be making any money while rescuing a person that won't tip?
Who pays for the software tied to GPS that KNOWS where all the drivers are to make pick up and drop off efficient? Or were you just planning that the drivers would be reviewing the web while they were driving and just go to the next on the list? Yeah, THAT won't cause fist fights between your own drivers... especially for those customers KNOWN to be big tippers. So now you need folks back in HQ monitoring location and need and linking the two... who pays THOSE people?
You missed that part, too. I am a driver that works only for tips. Am I going to waste my time picking up folks in government housing or just hang out downtown on the bar scene hoping to pick up folks that can actually tip. But, you say, this was supposed to help POOR people and not rich people... yeah, it doesn't work that way.
Oops, almost forgot a biggie when it comes to insurance... YOUR liability. That's right... because if ANYTHING happens with one of your drivers, you are on the hook...and don't think I am talking about just car accidents and personal injury either. What if one of your drivers rapes or robs a customer? What if the driver gets into a fist fight with a customer that refuses to tip? What if a driver drinks and drives a customer and causes a tremendous accident?
The injured will sue the driver... and then your company... and then YOU.
Saying you are a charity does NOT absolve you from lawsuits.... ask the Catholic Church....or the Boy Scouts.
Even transportation services that are ALREADY free have these issues... which is why they are being phased out by the charities and governments that sponsor them. Transportation services for the sick and elderly are already in existence at no or very subsidized cost.... and they are just too expensive to operate even using their own vehicles and drivers that are volunteers that only work... wait for it... for tips.
And they, to save money, make the people come to THEM on specific drop off and pick up points to maximize use. Kind of like buses.... which are ALSO heavily subsidized.
Okay, so we have identified a BUNCH of costs.... insurance, HQ folks, web design and upkeep, mechanics services, background checks on the drivers, advertising, licenses and certificates... how do THOSE get paid? Oh, you say, I will just take a percentage from the tips the drivers make.
Couple of problems with that. One, it assumes that you find out when and how much a driver gets tipped. Yeah, its the honor system... but when I got a kid at home that needs milk and braces, maybe my fingers start getting sticky. And what happens if they DON'T get tipped....do you just tell everyone back at HQ that THEY aren't getting paid today either?
Face it.. you didn't think this out and now you are mad at US. We don't make the world, we just live in it.