New rideshare service lets you name your price for trips

Buckle up, Central Indiana Hoosiers. There's a new way to get around, and it could save you money.

A ride-hailing app new to Indianapolis is looking to give some competition to Uber and Lyft, letting users propose the amounts they want to pay for rides.

Through inDrive , a rider can propose their fare, and drivers can accept the amount bid or counter with a different rate.

The company has been piloting the app in the area for a few weeks.

How inDrive ride-hailing app works

Similar to with Uber and Lyft, an inDrive user can input their preferred pickup and drop-off location and select a desired auto class and vehicle size. Riders can choose from inDrive Comfort, inDrive Pet, and inDrive XL.

But whereas the other platforms would set a fee, a customer using inDrive would enter the amount they want to pay for a ride.

The customer would then see drivers in the area who agree to the fare or who counteroffer, along with driver ratings and vehicle models; and can then accept or decline the responses.

"We're giving both the driver and passenger the freedom to kind of choose their own adventure," said Adam Warner, inDrive's head of U.S. operations. "So you get to select the driver. Are you willing to wait 10 minutes for this person to pick you up in a Tesla Model Y, or are you comfortable with the Chevy Malibu that's only two minutes away to pick you up?"

How inDrive can save money

Warner said many inDrive users will price shop; checking to see what a ride would cost on Uber or Lyft and then offering a lower fare on the inDrive app. Drivers often accept the lower price, he said, because they still would make more money on the ride than if they were doing it for one of the competitors when accounting for the higher commissions paid to Uber and Lyft. inDrive takes a commission of 29.7%; but through Oct. 31, drivers in the Indianapolis area get to keep 100% of their fares.

"We don't have any algorithms running in the background that's kind of setting the marketplace. There are no surges. There's just a full transparent model. We bring the freedom of choice and fairness to all users by putting rideshare terms back in the hands of both the passenger and driver," Warner said.

The drivers, who must undergo background checks before joining the platform, can see both the pickup and dropoff locations before bidding on fares.

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About inDrive ride-hailing app

Indianapolis is one of only three U.S. areas where the bid-based app is active. It entered the U.S. market with a launch in South Florida in July 2023 and is piloting in Tallahassee, Fla.

About 1,600 drivers have signed on in Indianapolis.

Tampa is slated to be its fourth U.S. market.

The company, which recently moved its world headquarters to Mountain View, California, started in Russia in 2012 and operates in 750 cities in 46 countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Indonesia, Ecuador and India.

It also offers courier services, food delivery and handyman services for bidding in other markets.

Why inDrive launched in Indianapolis

The app is looking to expand through midsize markets before conquering larger U.S. cities, Warner said.

"I think that with its size, being the Midwestern and just good American city that Indianapolis is, there's a lot that I can learn from," he said. "And that really opens up potential expansion plans all across the United States, because there are more cities like Indy than there are New York, Chicago, and LA."