Uber coming to OKC

[metro]

Been meaning to post this for a week or so, but have on very good authority that Uber is coming to OKC and will start setting up a small office to get things running next week. Great news for OKC, the urban community, and will hopefully disrupt/improve our taxi/black car/limo market and give us some good national exposure.

https://www.uber.com/

[Praedura]

This link would seem to confirm your statement:

https://www.uber.com/jobs/o30WXfwG

[metro]

I know of more details but can't say until next week, unless they release a news release first. This is a good win for OKC.

[Dubya61]

Depending on how many they are looking at expanding to, this makes them as one of 28 U.S. cities they see their service working in. Not a bad peer group.

[warreng88]

I am curious where they would set up shop. I would bet either DT/BT or the Meridian corridor but I could be completely wrong.

[Rover]

This is a good get for OKC. As pointed out, a good peer group of services they service. This kind of shows how OKC is being perceived and its growth as an urban center.

[Jeepnokc]

Have they changed their app and permissions? I travel a lot and have a lot of friends that use them but was uncomfortable after downloading app. It required that you give them permission to access your photos on your device. I can understand location but not photos. When I asked, they couldn't give me a reason for needing access to my photos. (May be a little paranoid but don't really want people accessing my kids photos, etc)

[bradh]

Glad to see it come here. Houston is having a helluva time attracting them because of issues with Yellow Cab (I think that's the issue, don't hold me to that)

[metro]

I am curious where they would set up shop. I would bet either DT/BT or the Meridian corridor but I could be completely wrong.

Film Row, can't give exact details yet, but I have specifics.

[metro]

Glad to see it come here. Houston is having a helluva time attracting them because of issues with Yellow Cab (I think that's the issue, don't hold me to that)

Yeah but they're Uber popular in the Bay Area (SFO), Seattle, NYC and typical urban centers. They're totally distrupting the market, and providing better service and for cheaper usually. In some markets, the cabby unions have put up a fight, and ended up losing. Courts found that Uber had a better run operation, and ended up fining or putting stricter standards on the cabbies. LOL. Score OKC. This has a lot to do with the burgeoning tech hub we're becoming.

[Questor]

So what the heck is this... is this a taxi service, or is this random people with nice cars giving strangers a ride for money?

[Praedura]

Yeah but they're Uber popular in .....

I saw what you did there.

[betts]

We use Über in SF when I visit my daughter. I love the fact that its prepaid and you can designate a tip. They're very prompt. No problems with it that I've found.

[bluedogok]

So what the heck is this... is this a taxi service, or is this random people with nice cars giving strangers a ride for money?

It offers a service of connecting customers with the limo/black car type of businesses for rides.

They have had all sorts of regulatory battles here in Denver over whether they are a "taxi service" or not. All sorts of attorney general, governor and regulatory agency opinions flying around. Lat I heard (a few weeks ago) they were legal to operate but under some conditions, mainly to satisfy the taxi lobby.

[zookeeper]

It looks like they'll be around a while with such a great group of investors. Here are the Uber Investors. Lowercase and Menlo, two of my faves, are funding some incredible projects. Lowercase is a big investor of Kickstarter, which in turn, is a crowd funding source for multitudes of projects. Great news!



Here's a link where you can click on each logo and read about some of their entrepreneurial investments.
https://www.uber.com/about

[ljbab728]

I use this company regularly to make reservations around the world. They also operate in OKC. Is there a significant difference?

Book A Limo, top quality limousine service, Atlanta Limo : NYC : Detroit : EL Paso : Rome : Salt Lake City : Tallahassee : New Mexico : Indianapolis : Las Vegas : Mexico City Limo : Book a Limo

[BoulderSooner]

uber is great .. i just used them in chicago for OU ND ..

[metro]

It's official, they started yesterday, got me a VIP card. Hope it's successful for OKC.

[BoulderSooner]

It's official, they started yesterday, got me a VIP card. Hope it's successful for OKC.

how do i get one of those/ what are the "vip" card benifits?

[PWitty]

From looking at their other job listings it seems that they're expanding into OKC, KC, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, and Richmond.

[warreng88]

Well, Uber has their first OKC endorsement:

Nick Collison‏@nickcollison45m Im happy to be rider 0 for @uber_okc. Im excited @uber is here in okc. I use @uber all the time and I love it.

[Richard at Remax]

https://www.uber.com/cities/oklahoma-city

[GoldFire]

If you don't know what Uber is, it is a really cool tech startup that essentially offers taxi rides through a really slick smartphone app. These are normal cars, not taxis, and they come to your location using GPS. The payment is all handled through your account on your phone, so no dealing with cash. If you have tried it out in places like NYC or San Francisco, you know it is a really great service, and now it is in OKC!

Source: Uber Blog | Ubers are hitting the roads of OKC, y?all!

[Bunty]

So you can start your own taxi service and provide it when it fits your schedule.

[Drake]

So you can start your own taxi service and provide it when it fits your schedule.

No. I believe you have to have a limo license and meet those requirements. Somebody else probably knows the requirements.

There was a service started in San Fran like you described where people were just picking other people up, but those people ended up getting arrested and fined. It's illegal to to transport people for money without the proper license.

There is a huge battle going on in Dallas right now as Yellow Cab as been working behind the scenes at city hall trying to get Uber shut down in the city of Dallas.