Uber IOU

Uber rides are not cheap. I recently came back from a few weeks of traveling and was amazed at how much it costs to drive such a short distance (yes, I know this is how NY works, but still). I will say the density of Uber drivers in NY makes the experience amazing, compared to smaller cities where you end up waiting a long time for rides.

Looking at the overall costs got me thinking about alternative approaches. What if there were a way to book a ride with a formal “IOU” agreement, which you could pay back upon arrival? This is partially born out of a story where my friend’s dad (a cab driver) ended up getting paid with a Rolex because his passenger didn’t have any money on him and was too inebriated and affluent to care.

There are enough technical nuances (valuing an item, verifying transfer of ownership, whether or not the rider has anything of value to begin with) that I doubt a feature like this ever sees the light of day. It’d be wild if it did.

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