Uber’s ride sharing business has opened in Orange in time for the four busiest taxi days of the year.
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The app went live at 3pm on Thursday allowing people to book a ride with drivers who will use their own cars to provide transport.
Uber has refused to say how many drivers it has in Orange or how many customers have downloaded the app to use it however Head of Cities for Uber Natalie Malligan said it would “start small” in the Colour City.
“We would expect delays at the start. It will be relatively small,” she said.
Ms Malligan said Uber expected the number of drivers and users would grow as it became established.
“We’re always looking for more and more driver partners,” she said.
Ms Malligan said drivers paid a 27.5 per cent commission on each fare to Uber.
Orange Uber driver Ben Wilshire said he expected to start work on Saturday night.
Mr Wilshire said he was treating the work as “more of a hobby for me” and a second job alongside his full time work in community services.
They said there's been a lot of people opening the app in regional towns.
- Ben Wilshire, Uber driver
He said he planned to work some nights and weekends.
“I’m confident, I’m expecting [to earn] $15 an hour after costs,” he said.
“They said there’s been a lot of people opening the app in regional towns.”
Mr Wilshire said he had caught Uber services in Sydney and Brisbane and supported drivers and passengers reviewing each other.
“I think that’s a really good idea,” he said.
Uber is expected to take business off Orange’s taxi drivers on their two busiest weekends of the year before Christmas, however Taxi Cabs of Orange Cooperative chairman Darryl Curran, said they were ready to compete.
Mr Curran said the city’s 100 drivers of 26 cabs would pick up customers within five minutes of being booked and taxis were safer than Uber cars as they had cameras and accredited drivers.
“Uber are fly-by-nighters if you ask me,” he said.
“They’ll come out and pick the eyes out of the good stuff.”
He said Uber drivers would not make $15 an hour after Christmas as cab drivers averaged only $9 an hour on quiet nights. “They’ll see it’s not all roses,” he said.
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