Usually Columbia
is not on the leading edge of things, and Uber is well established Nationally,
but it did open in Columbia
yesterday morning (July 10, 2014). As you know
it works from an APP on your phone, and you don’t pay the car driver, it auto
charges your credit card including tip, if appropriate. Easy.
A little cheaper than cabs, perhaps and more up to date.
Uber shows you a photo of the
car that will pick you up and a photo of the driver, who has been pre-screened
for background and safety. Also you rate
each car and driver after you ride, and bad experiences eliminate drivers from
the system (they say). The APP shows you on a moving map
the car that will be picking you up, so you know where it is by looking at your
phone.
Uber says that soon it will
be dispatching these cars (cars owned by the drivers, but not
officially city registered cabs) for pickup within 5 minutes.
Many drivers are part time, but they work in peak hours to give
customers better service (theory, anyway).
There’s Uber and UberX the latter is cheaper, not sure of the exact
difference. One big thing, you can add
riders, there’s no up charge for other riders, and split the fare. But it has to go on one person’s credit card
of course.
The news is your first 5
rides are FREE … but you have to use them by July 24, 2014 (Columbia, SC
only) Cab owners and operators say the
insurance is not as up to date as cabs, Uber says it has a $1 million policy on
each car being used, no cost to the driver, and no deductible (to
driver?). Check all the details if you
are interested, possibly on their website.
The local Uber manager says “response to the new service has been
tremendous” (State Paper).
I have read that Uber might use "demand pricing", so that, in a rain storm in a busy city, they might charge more for a ride than other times. The company says this motivates drivers to work in rain storms and times they might otherwise slack off. Riders pay the premium.
