Could Uber car service be returning to Vancouver?
App-based car service run out of town in 2012, now tweeting and advertising on Facebook for drivers
Uber, the popular app-based car service, that was run out of Vancouver in 2012 appears to be trying to make a comeback.
Uber Vancouver has begun tweeting its intention to return and Facebooking ads for drivers.
With a tap on your smartphone, Uber will send you a car and driver. And for a few months in 2012, it did.
However it was eventually run out of Vancouver for refusing to comply with a Passenger Transportation Board order to get a limousine licence and charge a minimum $75 per trip.
Now it's advertising for drivers again.
Uber's stepped-up activity coincides with its Ice Cream Day promotion earlier this summer in Vancouver during which it activated its app so users could get ice cream delivered to their door.
The ride-sharing service operates in 210 cities around the world, but not always to popular acclaim. Taxi drivers in Paris and London have protested against Uber and similar companies for undercutting their business. And it was recently banned in Germany.
In Canada, Uber is currently providing service in three Canadian cities. In Toronto and Montreal where it fueled fare wars earlier this year it's now been ordered to use only licensed drivers and regular fare meters.
In Halifax, Uber doesn't offer taxi service but does have a "black car" service that uses premium vehicles and sets a minimum $12 fare.
In August, Uber met with the City of Edmonton.
It's also met with the City of Ottawa who has told Uber, it must be licensed to operate there.
CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story referred to Uber as a taxi service when in fact it has never been licensed as such in Vancouver.