Taxi app tries for a comeback in Vancouver
Company accused of undercutting cabbies returns
It's an app that's trying to make a comeback.
Uber app will send a car and driver to your door. Or would, if the Passenger Transportation Board would let them.
With a tap on your smart phone, Uber will send you a car and driver. Or at least it did. It was run out of Vancouver in 2012 for refusing to comply with a Passenger Transportation Board order to get a limousine licence and charge a minimum $75 per trip.
The app was back today, delivering ice cream on demand and building support and fans.
Socialite and event planner Frances Hui is already on board, declaring the service provided is better than that offered by taxis who sometimes pick up anyone at the address to which they've been called.
"Uber is not going to pick up anyone else. They're only going to pick up the person who ordered it, and you can be assured because it's tracked on your iPhone app," said Hui.
Uber operates in 150 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.
Jeff Weshler, the company's General Manager of regional expansion, wouldn't rule out sharing the app with taxi and cab companies in Metro Vancouver.
"I have no concrete plans to share, but it comes back to us being really excited about the potential here,' Weshler said.
With files from Kirk Williams