this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Jitu Jisan is a Pathao bike-taxi driver in Dhaka. But, he said, taking bookings through the ride-hailing app is always the last resort for him. Typically, he uses the Pathao app only to find a customer, and once he meets them, he turns off the app, strikes a direct deal, and goes khep.

Khep is a popular colloquial term used for gig drivers bypassing platforms like Pathao and Uber in Bangladesh. In Bangla, khep translates to “side hustle.” “We’d rather khep than work on the apps. All the effort is from [the drivers’] end anyway,” Jisan told Rest of World. “The motorcycles are ours, the bills for petrol are ours, it’s our hard work. Platforms only help by getting us on the apps, and even for that, they’re charging a commission.”

Over 60% of respondents in an April 2023 survey of 59 commuters in Bangladesh said they had taken khep riders in 2023, according to a study conducted by a group of researchers associated with BRAC University in Dhaka. It is estimated that there were 7.5 million rides per month across the country in 2020, and earlier this year, the research director at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies said that the ride-sharing market is the largest segment within the country’s gig economy, worth $259 million in 2023 and expected to grow to $1 billion in the next five to seven years.

read more: https://restofworld.org/2023/uber-commission-fees-bangladesh/

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[–] BarrierWithAshes@kbin.social 75 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thats amazing. Its like they are 'pirating' uber. I love it.

[–] And009@reddthat.com 16 points 11 months ago

Happens a bit in India too. More frequently in some cities than other.

[–] MisterChief@lemmy.world 65 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've had a few drivers do this in the US and it has always been a huge cost savings. Uber gives a smaller and smaller cut the the drivers from what I'm hearing. I miss the early days when rides were cheap, driver kept the lions share of the fare and no one was expected to tip.

[–] kpw@kbin.social 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, but they only could provide that by burning a LOT of money in order to gain a monopoly and then squeeze everyone dry. Uber has always been a venture capital sham: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/11/bezzlers-gonna-bezzle/

[–] dreamer@lemm.ee 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What I find fucked up in the first place, is how these business models don't even work in the first place. Like why in the hell am I spending so much on a trip and it's not even profitable in the first place.

[–] anlumo@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Startup culture isn’t the most efficient. For example, back when Twitter still existed their iOS team had more than 100 people. I was an iOS developer back then, and I could easily have made a similar product alone (just the client, not the server). I don’t think that Tweetbot had more than one developer, and they produced much higher quality than that Twitter team.

Also remember that (former) Google employees who published a video about their work day, where they spent about 30mins for actual work and the rest was R&R.

[–] shasta@lemm.ee -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

That's what made it good. Just because it's not sustainable doesn't mean it's bad for the users. It's the opposite. The problem is people who decided to hitch their lives on the app and be an Uber driver as a career. That was obviously not sustainable. And now people complain that it's not profitable anymore. Time to move on

EDIT: doenvoted for an anti-corporate opinion on Lemmy? Make up your minds!

[–] eskimofry@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

You're giving a descriptive explanation for a normative debate.. or whatever is the one with the correct meaning.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 58 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Uber and Pathao are now piloting a subscription plan for ride-sharing drivers, where they are not charged commissions on each ride.

So they can operate without skimming from drivers. Seize the means of production.

@snaptastic

[–] Cqrd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This sounds more like it's always charging a constant rate so it doesn't matter if they do this it not, uber gets paid. This sounds much worse, imo.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Imagine an open source platform for this service.

[–] lloram239@feddit.de 5 points 11 months ago

Problem here is that "Open source platform" is a meaningless term. Open Source is a type of license that regulates how to redistribute source code. None of those principles apply to services and platforms, which are about data and control. If the Uber app would be Open Source, but still had to connect to the Uber server and play by its rules, nothing would change. Meanwhile if it played by its own rules, what rules would that be? There are no established rules for an "open" service platform, especially not when it comes to platform that have review and reputation systems build in.

Simply put, it's really not clear how you can be "open" yet at the same time provide any level of protection against fraud and abuse.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How would you ensure safety of drivers and passengers with open source platforms?

Wouldn't you need some sort of centralized authority to take on that risk and enforce rules to be followed and ban certain people from the platform?

[–] eskimofry@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Bitch please. As if uber gives 2 shits about secruity. They are an app platform? What are you going to do, run into a local tech park and shout at the receptionist "EMERGENCY!". They will kick you out fast like they do a hobo in NYC.

[–] Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

“according to a study conducted”

59 people surveyed

This is why paid, professional journalism is important. Basic editorial effort would refuse to publish lines regurgitating junk science

[–] DeathWearsANecktie@lemm.ee 10 points 11 months ago

I could get a bigger sample size by spending an afternoon asking people on the street!

[–] Fades@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

but paid professional journalists are beholden to the investors and the rich assholes that own their publications. Also, they're motivated to pump as much click bait trash as possible for them tasty quarterly profits

Basic editorial effort would refuse to publish lines regurgitating junk science

have you seen some of what these large media corps will publish???

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

"Paid professional journalists" produce this kind of garbage too.

I don't know what the answer is.

[–] Gazumi@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No surprise, Uber and others will price only for their easiest big profit. Full support to the drivers

[–] GutsBerserk@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago

Kudos to Dhaka taxi drivers. All these exploiting corporations, especially Uber, can go to hell!

[–] nixcamic@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

What usually happens in Guatemala is you'll take one ride with them through Uber and if they seem cool and are from your area you get their number and just message them in the future to ask for a ride.