A ride, and a flat 99 cents

Ride apps take a percentage. It is the one part of the design nobody argues about any more: the driver does the work, the app takes its cut, and the cut grows with the fare for reasons that have nothing to do with the cost of arranging the ride.

Arranging a ride costs the same whether the ride is two miles or twenty. So PickMe charges the same: 99 cents a trip, flat, taken off the driver's balance. The rider pays Cyca nothing.

You name the price

Two pins — where you are, where you are going — and a price you are willing to pay. Drivers on duty nearby are asked. One accepts, or counters with a number. You take it or you do not.

That is closer to how a ride has always been agreed in most of the world than a fare a stranger's algorithm hands down, and it means a quiet Tuesday afternoon and a rainy Friday night can find different prices without anybody inventing a surge multiplier.

The exact pickup comes after the deal

Until a ride is confirmed, a driver sees roughly where you are, not your doorstep. The moment it is confirmed, the exact pickup is released, navigation opens, and both of you can watch the trip on a live map to the drop-off.

One driver account

PickMe is a switch on a Cyca driver account, not a second job to apply for. If you already carry deliveries, you can turn rides on, take one, and turn them off again — same account, same ledger, same ratings.

PickMe is announced and not open yet: nothing on it takes a signup today. Here is how it will work, in full, before it opens.