Re: “B.C. assigns undercover inspectors to catch unlicensed Uber drivers,” Nov. 4.
I’ve just returned from Nashville, Tennessee, where Uber is well established. We used the service at least four times and were impressed with the simplicity and efficiency of the system.
Although I can’t comment on any conformance to regulation, I can say that the drivers had gone through background checks and picked us up in late-model, clean vehicles. Both drivers and passengers have to sign up to the system.
Instead of trying to flag a taxi on a street corner, or phoning a dispatch and waiting 20 minutes, we simply accessed the app, identified our location and where we wanted to go, could visually see where Uber vehicles were on our smartphone, and were provided with the name of the driver, the vehicle, time of arrival, and an estimate of the cost. We waited no more than four minutes on each occasion.
Upon reaching our destination, we simply said our farewell. No money changed hands, as the cost was charged to our credit card and within a few minutes, we were notified of the actual cost. Both driver and passengers also had the opportunity to rate each other — how’s that for accountability?
While I understand that regulations must be adhered to, and that the playing field must be levelled, it would be a disservice to the people to disallow Uber from offering their services. I would encourage local taxi companies to adopt similar technology, or they could be left behind by more innovative means to transport people.
S.J. Heddle
North Saanich




