RIDEGURU
I thought more info on this Phoenix/Arizona startup rideshare company named Hum may be helpful to drivers in the state or in the unlikely event the company can manage to expand their business.
TLDR key points.
-Sign up can be tricky and when you start getting charged for subscription is unclear
-No area or destination filters
-Cash Only (so far) Riders can not yet add credit card or other payment options on their Hum Rideshare rider app
-No real marketing. Whoever is managing website and social media presence has no idea what they are doing. Only marketing tool they have are Uber and Lyft drivers handing out coupons that will just lower their fares. Oh and Hum stickers. Yay!
-Very low fares, inaccurate, inconsistent rate card. Lower fares than Lyft or Uber
-No cancellation, no-show, long pick up or wait time fees for drivers.
-Riders cant add mutiple stops or change destination mid ride which means rates may not track for such events.
The core idea is sweet: A rideshare platform that allows the driver to keep all of that fare and only pay Hum a monthly subscription fee of $30+.
Seems the founders, a husband and wife duo by the name of Garrett and Anna Kolb are running the show. It is unclear if they reside in Arizona but Hum LLC is based out of Las Gatos CA. From my little contact with them they are high in enthusiam but lack in transparency and elements of professionalism I am sure they would like to see in the drivers they work with.
Prior to last weeks launch in Phoenix and other AZ markets they sent promo cards that act as "coupons" that have Android and Apple QR codes on either side. They promote a $5 dollar off first ride but every new …
I thought more info on this Phoenix/Arizona startup rideshare company named Hum may be helpful to drivers in the state or in the unlikely event the company can manage to expand their business.
TLDR key points.
-Sign up can be tricky and when you start getting charged for subscription is unclear
-No area or destination filters
-Cash Only (so far) Riders can not yet add credit card or other payment options on their Hum Rideshare rider app
-No real marketing. Whoever is managing website and social media presence has no idea what they are doing. Only marketing tool they have are Uber and Lyft drivers handing out coupons that will just lower their fares. Oh and Hum stickers. Yay!
-Very low fares, inaccurate, inconsistent rate card. Lower fares than Lyft or Uber
-No cancellation, no-show, long pick up or wait time fees for drivers.
-Riders cant add mutiple stops or change destination mid ride which means rates may not track for such events.
The core idea is sweet: A rideshare platform that allows the driver to keep all of that fare and only pay Hum a monthly subscription fee of $30+.
Seems the founders, a husband and wife duo by the name of Garrett and Anna Kolb are running the show. It is unclear if they reside in Arizona but Hum LLC is based out of Las Gatos CA. From my little contact with them they are high in enthusiam but lack in transparency and elements of professionalism I am sure they would like to see in the drivers they work with.
Prior to last weeks launch in Phoenix and other AZ markets they sent promo cards that act as "coupons" that have Android and Apple QR codes on either side. They promote a $5 dollar off first ride but every new Hum Rideshare rider app has this offer built in. In case you are wondering Hum is not covering that $5, the driver is expected to. That would not be so bad if they were more clear and competitive with their rate card. So far they are charging .39cents a mile, 0.00cents a minute with other possible inconsistent and unexplained fees. That is certainly less than what a driver gets after Lyft and Uber take their fees. This startup had the opportunity to allow drivers to set their own rates but they blew it. They also dont do cancellation fees, no-show fees, wait time fees or long pick up fees.
The Humshare driver app is barebones. UI is ok but if you click around in Wallet section too much app and phone may freeze! Sign up process was ok. They have drivers sign up to Stripe (for paymeny processing) and doing that in app is next to impossible.
The rider app as of yet has no feature to add debit/credit cards or link Bank, Paypal or other options. The default option is always Cash. Even if they do start adding needed fees like for cancellations and no-shows there is no way for a driver to collect.
So far I consider this platform a fail. I have reached out several times to Garret. Initially he seemed recepetive to questions and suggestions but that is no longer the case.
Once again drivers are left with the evil Lyft and Uber options.
Comments
I'm a driver in the Tucson area (yes HUM is active in Tucson also). I see this was posted almost a month ago, so just wanted to give a quick update. while the information above was accurate at the time of posting, many of those issues have been resolved. I have also spoken to Garrett Kolb and he seems to be genuinely adamant about resolving issues that arise. He also conveyed that upgrades and additions to the app will be forthcoming and that they wanted to perfect the core functionality before adding anything. There have been several updates to the driver and Rider apps to date, and I,m sure there are more coming.
I really like the fundamental business model this company offers and will stick it out as long as it is growing and improving. I already have a few riders that look for me and request rides thru HUM when I am available, so it is working.
Keep in mind, when Uber and Lyft first launched they were a mess for quite some time and the fixe…
Read more...
I'm a driver in the Tucson area (yes HUM is active in Tucson also). I see this was posted almost a month ago, so just wanted to give a quick update. while the information above was accurate at the time of posting, many of those issues have been resolved. I have also spoken to Garrett Kolb and he seems to be genuinely adamant about resolving issues that arise. He also conveyed that upgrades and additions to the app will be forthcoming and that they wanted to perfect the core functionality before adding anything. There have been several updates to the driver and Rider apps to date, and I,m sure there are more coming.
I really like the fundamental business model this company offers and will stick it out as long as it is growing and improving. I already have a few riders that look for me and request rides thru HUM when I am available, so it is working.
Keep in mind, when Uber and Lyft first launched they were a mess for quite some time and the fixes and improvements were ongoing for YEARS. I think its only natural that there will be some growing pains and this is a tough market to break in to. So far, I have been impressed with the pace that issues are being resolved and app functionality is being added.
Read less...
I agree with you a hundred percent, I’m a Lyft driver looking for other options less greedy o not greedy at all and HUM has the right idea, I’ve racked up over 15K rides with Lyft and I’m done with this app, I’ll take my chances with HUM from their beginning stage which like you stated, they’re just starting and Lyft or any other company for that matter will have their issues at first and it’s not fair to review at their early stages, who knows, maybe desertdriver was truly frustrated with the app or maybe he was influenced somehow for his review on HUM, or maybe he just doesn’t understand that no biz is a hundred percent where it should be from the beginning, my apologies in advance, please don’t take offense to this since is not my intention, I’m confident HUM will do better than any of them other rideshare apps with time, and as long as they keep improving as they have been I will stick to HUM and will be loyal, drivers shouldn&…
Read more...
I agree with you a hundred percent, I’m a Lyft driver looking for other options less greedy o not greedy at all and HUM has the right idea, I’ve racked up over 15K rides with Lyft and I’m done with this app, I’ll take my chances with HUM from their beginning stage which like you stated, they’re just starting and Lyft or any other company for that matter will have their issues at first and it’s not fair to review at their early stages, who knows, maybe desertdriver was truly frustrated with the app or maybe he was influenced somehow for his review on HUM, or maybe he just doesn’t understand that no biz is a hundred percent where it should be from the beginning, my apologies in advance, please don’t take offense to this since is not my intention, I’m confident HUM will do better than any of them other rideshare apps with time, and as long as they keep improving as they have been I will stick to HUM and will be loyal, drivers shouldn’t be afraid to jump in, heck if I could sign up any one can, lol, it’s really not that difficult and it’s not much different than the other greedy apps, just a different approach, most of it online from the comfort of you home.
Drivers made Lyft and Uber possible not their apps, but they don’t see that, they just see us drivers as cash cows and they’re nothing without the drivers, we put them on top but they think they can do with out us, I have news for them,, HUM IS HERE !!!!
Read less...
When I saw last time they charge $1 per mile and 25 cents per minute. It's getting better and Garrett told me I would be the first one that he reaches out to when they decide that they're gonna launch in New York State.