Uber taxi app plots return to Vancouver

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      Back in 2012, Uber kicked up quite a social media fuss in Vancouver when it got kicked to the curb by B.C.'s Passenger Transportation Board. Well, get ready for another round of #UberVanLove.

      On its blog, the San Francisco-based company behind the taxi and ridesharing app, which meets opposition from the taxi industry wherever it goes, says it's "missed" Vancouver. Uber held a promotional "Ice Cream Day" on July 18, which encouraged locals to download the app and order some ice cream.

      Uber's July 17 blog post states:

      When we first met, our innovative model of connecting riders with drivers was in its infancy. But that didn’t stop the entrenched, taxi industry from seeing the threat to their high priced monopoly on the Vancouver market and using their political power to ice us out of town.

      Today, the Uber platform is transforming the way modern cities move. It is giving residents and tourists another option for getting from point A to B, and giving drivers a flexible and lucrative source of income.

      We hope that Ice Cream Day is a satisfying start to a new beginning for Uber Vancouver, and can hardly wait until the day when we can give you the full scoop.

      Elsewhere on its blog, Uber notes that its service is now available in 100 cities. Goldman Sachs and Google Ventures are among the company's investors.

      Comments

      27 Comments

      Ripley

      Jul 21, 2014 at 2:45pm

      With Skytrain down again, their timing couldn't be better.

      Ted

      Jul 21, 2014 at 3:09pm

      Would be nice to get better service and pay 40% of the current fares like I can whenever I'm in San Francisco or Seattle.

      Undercutting the price? Sure, that's the point!

      Why do we need to sell a license that gives someone a monopoly and then goes on to contribute nothing. Cut out the middleman, let the rider pay the driver while maintaining or improving current standards of safety/insurance/accesibility

      Gimme my UBER!!

      Jul 21, 2014 at 4:11pm

      Holy crap, have I missed Uber. I use it everywhere in the world I travel, and these days that's no exaggeration -- it's everywhere, and deservedly so.

      No wonder the local taxis wanted them out of town. The Uber cars are clean, friendly, smell great, free water, comfy and classy. As compared to the local taxis which -- well, need we go into detail. If I were part of the local taxi monopoly, I'd have taken the 2 years it's been since Uber got exiled and used that time to learn and improve service. Because if Uber comes back, and I sure hope they do, the stagnant and awful local taxi scene is in for a big shake-up.

      Transit or Taxi, forget Uber

      Jul 21, 2014 at 9:44pm

      Just get the Yellow Cab app. It sends a cab to your exact gps location, tells you which cab took the job, and shows you a live map of that cab's location. What more could you want? Cheaper fairs? Go take a taxi in NYC or LA and then try to complain about fairs (and traffic). The rates here are reasonable. Plus they're all driving Priuses (Priii?), it couldn't be more environmentally friendly unless you took transit. Speaking of which, just take transit you fools. We have the cleanest most convenient bus system I've ever seen. Sure the skytrain could use a few more tracks (Commercial to UBC!) but we'll get there eventually, if you keep riding it (and paying your fairs).

      Rick Johson

      Jul 21, 2014 at 9:58pm

      I've used Uber in San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Paris-with consistent excellent results. Why not in Vancouver?

      Mike

      Jul 21, 2014 at 11:38pm

      Talk about high priced monopoly

      Let’s see Vancouver taxi industry created about 600 owner operators with each taxi worth more than $7, 00,000 So 600 different people making money, creating part time and full time job. All these people Paying GST and income tax in BC. They have full commercial insurance in case taxi involved in an accident.

      Now let’s talk about UBER, only few people getting billionaire. They don’t have any commercial insurance. They don’t want to pay GST and tax in BC. Is this different than monopoly? These people are abusing all rules and regulation to make them billionaire. Once UBER become 300-400 billion of worth, they will make it public trading company and run Laughing to the banks. UBER charge Full amount From BC consumer and keep 20% of the amount in San Francisco and sent rest to drivers.

      Canam

      Jul 24, 2014 at 11:21am

      It is high time we deregulated the for-hire transportation industry in BC. Jitneys, Uber, airport shuttles, etc are all part of a robust public transportation system and make transit flexible and low cost.

      simon

      Aug 12, 2014 at 7:04pm

      Uber financed by Goldman Sachs. Same who were screaming financial markets to be deregulated. Made their billions, when it all collapsed u remember what happened next. Good our Bank of Canada kept its conservative regulations. It is the same story now. Uber does not go to a city, if they don't get a competative advantage.

      Bruce

      Aug 13, 2014 at 10:14pm

      De-regulation, it's sounds great on paper. It's also how things work in the third world. No, I'm with the Passenger Transportation Board on this. Although I hope this shakes up the taxi industry to the point of adopting Ubers methodology and adapting it to suit our needs.

      Ahmad

      Aug 23, 2014 at 4:17pm

      Perhaps the solution is to make our local taxi industry competitive, so not only that anyone like über won't survive here but also we don't drain our income(GST,jobs etc) out of our province. Taxi is a huge market with lots of potential but just needs to be restructured to avoide monopoly.