Show HN: Bliq – A meta-search engine for ride-hailing
bliq.app
Platform monopolies in the ride-hailing space have led to users paying more for trips, while receiving a lower quality service. On the flip side, drivers often find themselves at the mercy of a single dominant platform, impacting their earnings and freedom of choice. So… we saw an opportunity to empower users.
Technical solution:
- built an internal API that interfaces with multiple platform APIs to fetch real-time ride data (for both passenger and driver personas)
- built two apps:
- for drivers: aggregated incoming offers in a single interface, custom parameters-based automation, surge maps, aggregated statistics (earnings, distance, time)
- for passengers: aggregated ride options, pricing, and ETAs in a single interface, deep-linking directly into the ride request within the platform apps
- platforms attempted to block our API traffic
- we observed unusually rigorous hardware protection in some platform apps, causing a lot of drivers to have to change their older phones even if they didn’t use Bliq
- we realized some of their mobile apps tried to detect if our app is installed on their device, potentially flagging drivers. they removed this mechanism afterwards
- some drivers reported being cautioned/advised against using Bliq by employees of some of the platforms
Curious to know how the community would navigate these challenges while maintaining integrity and user value. We just launched the passenger app this week, so feedback on both apps is very welcome.