People in the Tallahassee area now have another transportation option. The controversial ride-share service uberX began offering rides this morning.
Tallahassee and Gainesville are the latest Florida cities where people are now using the Uber smartphone app to book rides. The two are part of Uber’s simultaneous rollout Thursday in 22 college towns nationwide.
Uber Florida General Manager Matt Gore says the company has ways of knowing where it’ll likely be successful.
"One of the things about being a tech company is we have a lot of data, so we can see where people are opening up the app and trying to see if we’re available even where we’re not," he says. "We can see that there’s been tremendous demand in these places, and as schools are coming back into session, we’ve decided to make these launches.”
Earlier this year, Uber sent lobbyists to the Capitol to push for laws that would override local governments’ limo service rules. That effort, in support of its "black car" service, faced pushback by traditional limo and cab companies and was unsuccessful. But that hasn’t stopped the ride share app from operating uberX in a handful of Florida cities including Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa.
