Uride launching in time for Christmas
Ridesharing service Uride plans to offer service in Peterborough in time for the Christmas season, the company announced Wednesday.
Uride is an app-based ridehailing service that helps people order a ride home at peak times of the day.
The service was originally founded in Thunder Bay as a program aimed at preventing impaired driving and has been expanding to other small- to medium-sized cities in Ontario not covered by larger services such as Uber.
“We were founded to help prevent and end impaired driving, so we do like to focus the coverage on Friday and Saturday nights during the bar rush and making sure people are getting a ride home safely,” Uride chief operating officer Skye Volpi told The Examiner.
“This is the most important thing for us, we came across this issue when we were first starting up in Thunder Bay, our founder and CEO Cody Ruberto saw people waiting an hour to two hours on a Friday and Saturday nights for a ride home.”
Volpi said he has been in contact with city officials throughout the year about getting a bylaw for ride-hailing programs in place. But with a bylaw not set to be on the books until the new year, Uride has delayed its Peterborough launch until the Christmas season.
“They have pushed back the expected bylaw implementation times, so they don’t think that it will be in place in time for 2020,” Volpi said. “I reached out to city officials on a few occasions expressing our interest to launch in Peterborough and there is no concern or issue with us launching.”
The company has begun to recruit local drivers to be ready to launch for the Christmas season. Thirty to 50 drivers are expected to be needed, he said.
Drivers can expect to be thoroughly vetted to prevent any wrongdoing while providing rides through the platform, he said
“The expectations on our end is you have a smartphone, a vehicle, we are going with any vehicle 10 years of age or newer,” Volpi said.
For insurance purposes drivers must be 25 years of age or older and have six or fewer demerit points and be free of any criminal backgrounds.
Costs to drivers to join the platform, such as driver’s abstract, a background check and a vehicle safety, will be covered by the company, he said.
Both full-time and part-time Uride drivers can expect flexibility in their work schedules, he said.
“It is extremely flexible, it is great for both part-time and full-time earners, you can choose your own schedule,” Volpi said. “Drive when there are high demand periods.”
The company will offer a signing bonus for drivers who complete 50 rides in their first month.
“We are offering a sign-on bonus for our launch for anyone who completes 50 rides within the first month of operations,” he said. “From our experience, if you are driving full time you should be able to easily complete that number in under a week.”
Drivers can expect that they will be working hard to make sure customers are satisfied with their Uride experience, he said.
“We are going to be working on coverage and making sure ticket times are fast and the customer experiences the best,” Volpi said.
The Uride app can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.