It would be easy to think that Uber has a sure lock on being the biggest player in the US rideshare market but where there is money and opportunity, there will be competition.
Bounce Rideshare Startup in San Diego
Bounce is a new rideshare company starting out in San Diego, California. They offer benefits for repeat passengers and their business model is certainly different than the big boys, Uber and Lyft.
Bounce CEO Mark Potter says this about his business venture, "Our drivers are owners. They earn ownership in our company through stock options."
"Stock options" is intriguing... typically that means there are plans to take a company public at some point in the future... option holders often make serious money by converting their options to stock shares and selling the shares on the market... of course these windfall profits only happen if the company succeeds.
Welcome to the rideshare industry, Bounce, we're rooting for you to succeed!
RideAustin Rideshare - Non-Profit Business Model
RideAustin is another unique ridesharing company.
When Uber and Lyft were essentially booted out of Austin, Texas, the non-profit rideshare service RideAustin was created. According to their website:
"RideAustin officially began taking rides from the general public on June 16th, 2016, just 5 weeks after initial development." ~RideAustin
5 weeks!!!
Along with thinking that the big boys have the rideshare market place locked-up, it's easy to think that the TNC's driver and passenger applications are very complex and would be hard to replicate... surely nobody can compete with the apps created by Uber and Lyft.
Well, I have a strong IT background and I can assure you that creating new apps is easy and here is the proof... RideAustin went from initial development to soft launch in 5 weeks.
Typical benefits of being a non-profit company are lower salaries for executives and reduced administrative costs to run the business. Done locally, non-profits could be an extremely viable alternative to the traditional TNCs.
Lower overall costs suggest that non-profit rideshare companies might be able to provide lower cost rides and pay their drivers more.
Don't count out evolution in the rideshare industry... Uber and Lyft are not the guaranteed winners in this race... we've really only just scratched the surface of what is coming...
Analysts expect the rideshare industry to grow almost 20% a year at least through 2030... with that kind of growth, anything is possible!