Name your price for a car trip on new app Bid2Ride

Set a low price and still get a ride.
Set a low price and still get a ride.
Image: bid2ride

Throw down an offer for a ride (you can even low-ball it!) and a driver may accept, then pick you up and take you where you want to go. If not, compare your losing bid to the cost of the same ride-hail trip on apps like Uber, Lyft, Via, and other local ride options. 

This is the hybrid approach to ride-sharing that Bid2Ride is introducing in the Washington, D.C., area on Tuesday. By taking only 15 percent from each driver's fare (compared to around 25 percent on the Uber and Lyft platforms), riders can get a 20 to 30 percent cheaper ride compared to traditional options like Uber — if their bid is accepted. 

What's in it for drivers to accept a lower fare instead of sticking with industry giants like Uber? Transparency. Bid2Ride's CEO Jahan Hakimi said in a phone call thatdrivers are given rider information including destination and how much drivers will make on the ride.

 "If drivers have all this information," he said, "they're willing to take this discounted ride." After talking to more than 200 ride-share drivers, Bid2Ride found that with enough information, drivers thought it was worth it. If enough drivers join the app after the launch, Hakimi said adding on driver health benefits could be possible some time next year.

Instead of hauling back to a hotspot without a paying passenger (known as "deadheading," or sometimes deadlegging, in industry terms), Bid2Ride hopes to entice drivers to pick up a nearby rider at a lower rate. With more knowledge about what they're getting into, drivers can make ride-hailing trips more efficient and productive, in theory. 

"We don't see ourselves as competitors to Uber and Lyft, more partners," Hakimi said, referring to the "aggregator" part of the app. That's where Bid2Ride veers away from other bid-based services like Russian ride-hailing app inDriver that launched in the U.S. recently.  

If your bid doesn't get any bites (the app recommends a base bid, but you can go higher or lower), it pulls up prices from other ride services. When you click through to the Lyft app, for example, your information is already filled out. You just have to confirm you want that ride.

"If you don't get a ride, we'll aggregate your ride," Hakimi explained.

He compared the service to, like if the site itself offered its own hotel rooms along with competitors' offers. He plans to eventually include public transportation options, especially for places where a train ride might be faster than a car trip.

The company is launching in D.C. with 1,000 drivers signed up, along with a few full-time Bid2Ride drivers to make sure destination discrimination doesn't prevent certain parts of town from accessing the ride service. That's the problem that inherently comes up when drivers know the destination: They might not want to go certain places. The company, founded a few years ago before Tuesday's launch, is eating some costs to get people started on the app, including a $15-off-your-first-ride offer.

But with the hybrid approach, Bid2Ride anticipates launching in major cities quickly. If too few Bid2Ride drivers are available to snatch a bid, the service will refer riders to established ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber. 

Bid2Ride won't have to contend with California's gig worker bill with its launch in D.C. But if it expands, it could come up against legislation questioning how it deals with its contractor-based business model. In California, three other states, and possibly soon others, apps like Bid2Ride will have to defend its workers' statuses as independent contractors and not employees. Hakimi thinks the driver-focused app should keep the company's structure intact.

"We're a true independent contractor company that allows the drivers to make decisions," Hakimi claimed, explaining why it should be easier to enter new cities and attract drivers who are already working for traditional ride-hailing apps. He doesn't want them to stop driving for Lyft and Uber, but add Bid2Ride to the mix. 

Next is getting riders to give this unconventional approach a chance. The possibility of a cheaper ride should do it.