New ride-sharing program looks to come to El Paso

Arcade City could become the newest ride-sharing program to hit El Paso’s streets.

The peer-to-peer service is offered in 27 states and more than 100 cities. The creator of the ride-sharing app says its services are very different from other popular ride-sharing apps.

“Arcade City started off as a ride-sharing platform, but we offer more than just ride-sharing services” said Eric Green the Arcade City director for Texas. Green says drivers can offer roadside assistance, food deliveries and other services.

“The Achilles’ heel of Uber and Lyft is their centralized management of pricing, ” said Arcade City founder Christopher David. “You cannot build a sustainable long-term relationship with drivers if you take away their ability to set their own pricing. Arcade City will decentralize those decisions to the level of the driver and their customers.”

The program runs though Facebook. Customers request a ride and the willing drivers offer assistance.

Customers select their own drivers, unlike other ride-sharing services.

“We do not dictate how much the driver charges. They negotiate with the rider,” Green said.

Drivers take all forms of payment: cash, credit, even crypto currency such as bitcoin.

Local taxi cab drivers say they don’t like the idea of more competition coming to El Paso; some even fear they’ll be out of business.

Green said Arcade City should have it’s own app in the next couple of months. That’s when it would presumably start charging drivers a commission. However, he did not give a timeline for when the service could be available for El Paso.