This fare calculator designed by GIS developer Elliott Plack will estimate a rider’s total fare using the ridesharing startup Lyft, which began operating in Baltimore city on Oct. 17.
Plack, who is a Lyft driver, says the calculator “uses a formula based on observations and is not official.”
Find the fare calculator here. (Update: The web app has been deleted. Try the mobile app MyFare here. Or read Technical.ly’s ongoing coverage of Lyft here.)
Unlike drivers for competing ridesharing startup Uber, which culls its drivers from the existing pool of licensed limo company drivers, Lyft’s drivers are everyday people, and riders in Baltimore city who use Lyft pay their drivers a “suggested donation” through their smartphones. (In California, the home of the startup, Lyft is now shifting away from its suggested-donation model to a fixed pricing system.)
In Baltimore city, Lyft and Uber have been the subjects of scrutiny by the Maryland Public Service Commission over whether the startups are legal businesses or are operating as unregulated taxi companies.
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