With some 20 million users in 200 cities in 18 countries, inDriver is going up against Uber in Costa Rica, initially in the greater metropolitan area of San Jose.
The ride-share app, created in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the coldest place in the world – Siberia, Russia, announced its arrival in Costa Rica in February through Facebook.
Unlike other rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, inDriver describes itself as an online aggregator for passenger transportation services. inDriver does not take part in interactions among its Users. All ride requests are sent and completed by Users themselves.
inDriver’s business model is that passengers determine the price of the trip. The user enters the amount he or she is willing to pay for the trip. The order is confirmed by the first driver who is willing to accept the offered price.
On its website, inDriver says “All ride terms are determined in the course of instant bargain between drivers and passengers, without using opaque, closed algorithms prone to price manipulation”.
According to Yegor Fedorov, director of Business Development of inDriver, the company has expansion plan throughout Latin America, so during this year, they will invest more than US$50 million to reach the objectives in the region.
In this first stage of testing, on April 4 inDriver started in Costa Rica with more than 700 registered drivers.
In addition to Costa Rica, in the region inDriver operates in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.
The benefits for customers is that they can set (negotiate) the cost of the trips, control theirs costs. Among the benefits for the drivers, zero commission and freedom to choose the trips they feel are profitable or in the alternative make a counter offer.
