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March 15, 2013

Uber Expands to Lyon, France

By Wayne Adam
Contributing Writer

According to Uber’s blog, “Secret Ubers” have been testing out the streets of Lyon, France, making it the second city in France and adding to the other European cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Paris, London and Stockholm who currently see Ubers.

Haven’t heard of Uber? Well, you probably will in the future.

Uber is an on-demand car service, complete with chauffer, which books luxury taxi rides via a smartphone mobile app. Users can reserve a car from Uber’s fleet of Lincoln Town Cars, Cadillac Escalades, Mercedes-Benz gS550 Sedans and BMW 7 Series by sending a text message or mobile app—and track their reserved car’s location.

While users love the service, some government entities are opposed. Since all transactions are done through the mobile app, Uber is able to avoid many transportation regulations which have caused uproar from U.S. transportation agencies, unions and city councils that have heavy cab service regulations.

In an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012, Owner Travis Kalanick stated, “I don’t understand regulators. They are governed by three principles. One is cronyism; they feel the need to protect people they regulate. Two is control. If they don’t have rules for something, they feel it is illegal even if it isn’t. You have to have rules to enforce them. Three is communication. They are incredibly sensitive to what is in the public view. But If you only follow the rules, they will never let you make the city a better place.”

Uber is based out of San Francisco CA (News - Alert), owned by Travis Kalanick and Oscar Salazar, and officially launched as Uber, along with the mobile app, in 2010. Currently, it operates in 16 major U.S. cities.

“Competition is fun,” said Kalanick. “If there isn’t competition, what is the freaking purpose? Let’s have some fun and make the world a better place at the same time. You have to be fighter, you have to be a warrior, and if not, you should go do something that is a little less disruptive. I’m bringing it, I’m not sleeping. If the other guy is sleeping, I am going to kick his ass.”


Edited by Rachel Ramsey