Dividing up the check should be easy, right?
An updated version of Spliddit, a website dedicated to help you more equitably split rent and other daily items, has launched today. The new version includes tools to help you better divide work shifts, goods and cab fares.
How does it work? Spliddit uses algorithms to more accurately assess what each party owes. “In the case of a cab ride, it considers the distance to each person’s address and their proximity to each other. For three riders, for instance, the app would estimate the cost of each rider alone, of each of the three possible pairs of riders, and of all three riders together. It would then calculate each rider’s average marginal contribution to the total fare and divide it accordingly,” according to the release.
This may sound over, um, ambitious when it comes to splitting expenses, but if you’ve ever been stuck hanging out with the Cheap Friend (and everyone’s got one) who always somehow avoids paying their fair share, this could be the “scientifically” backed service you need to get them to pony up.
It could also help get that lazy roommate to clean the bathroom once in a while.
Spliddit reports that almost 40,000 unique users have logged on since it launched last November. One of today’s other new tasks added to the site, “distributing tasks,” is a “response to user feedback,” the release states. “The new task distribution service asks members of a group to identify their preferences for shifts or days, or for specific household or workplace tasks, and to quantify that preference.”
The project of Carnegie Mellon University, the not-for-profit site is free to use, and was supported by the National Science Foundation and Amazon.
