Residents, and visitors in Penticton, B.C., now have another option for getting around town, as a ridesharing company has launched in the community.
Uride officially launched its services on Friday in the South Okanagan, after rolling out in Vernon earlier this year and in Kelowna last year.
“We have a lot of the drivers out here; the community is excited. We’ve been talking to a ton of people and it’s a service that’s needed here,” said Uride Founder and CEO Cody Ruberto.
“We started the company to prevent impaired driving, get people home safe, we operate 24/7 and there’s clearly a need here and we’re just excited to come in and to try to make a difference.”
As of Friday, Uride is operating in 15 cities across B.C. and Ontario, with plans to expand to communities in Alberta.
According to Ruberto, Penticton had been on its list of communities to expand to for a while.
“I’m from a smaller town where there was no large rideshare company, and where people used to wait over an hour for taxis. And it was a huge problem that we thought shouldn’t exist. Now in my city, where I’m from, people are getting picked up in under 10 minutes,” said Ruberto.
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“Penticton, I’ve met a lot of people from here. I’ve heard stories from the community, and it just seems like it’s a really similar problem. So, it’s important to us that we do our best to just fix the problem.”
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Locals and visitors can now request a ride using the Uride app while drivers, like Nelly Christoph, are on standby in their personal vehicles.
Fares are based on the time of day and distance.
“It’s been fantastic. I’ve been driving for a year, and I started driving with another rideshare company. That’s how I transitioned from the service industry, got my class four and the documents, and then I started driving, and I’m driving full time. I love it,” said Christoph.
“My kids, when they were small, we came here all the time and I know Penticton very well so I’m very excited to be driving here.”
Among the first drivers hired to service Penticton was Trevor Harris, who previously drove for Uber in Edmonton.
When Harris moved to the South Okanagan, he worked to bring ridesharing to the area.
“When I found out Uride was going to be in Kelowna, I went, I applied, worked in Kelowna,” said Harris.
“As soon as we were starting Penticton, I went out and did everything I could to get Uride here — handing out 6,000 business cards throughout Penticton and Naramata. Tedious tasks.”
Harris went on to say that Uride is more than just transportation.
“I like to have fun. Like on party nights, if you want to call it that, I have actually party lights in my car that go on. So I try to make it a very entertaining ride for people,” added Harris.
Meanwhile, Ruberto says Uride is still actively recruiting drivers for the area.
“We have over a dozen drivers starting (Friday). Over time, we’re going to be adding a lot more, just as demand goes up,” said Ruberto.
“We have sign-up bonuses of $750 to sign on and then we also are offering a minimum guarantee of $1,500 a week for people who want to do this more of a full-time pay basis.”
To celebrate the launch in Penticton, Uride will be running a promotion all week for passengers.
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