In a blog post released today Uber wants to take an opportunity to explain why competition is good and to clarify some misinformation Torontonians have about the ride sharing service.
The company says that customers in Toronto have suffered because of a lack of competition in the taxi space. Uber says that competition is good because it challenges a business to continually develop and innovate.
“Competition is something that has been absent from the Toronto taxi industry for far too many decades, and drivers and riders have suffered as a result.”
Uber says that there is some of misinformation about the company’s operations in Toronto. The most common misconception is that using Uber is more expensive than a city taxi. The company says that uberTAXI prices are set by the City of Toronto and if you ride uberX the cost is 40 percent less expensive than a regular taxi.
Prices on uberTAXI will not go up because of a natural disaster, like the ice storm Torontonians saw last year. However, uberX and uberBlack may be affected. The company makes it clear that prices increases are very rare.
“Our prices on uberX and UberBlack (not uberTAXI) go up when demand exceeds supply to incentivize more partners to come onto the system. This makes our products more reliable than traditional taxis, especially in bad weather.”
Another misconception is that Uber is a large American company that doesn’t care about Canada. Uber points out that their Canadian team is growing rapidly. The company is also working on bringing more “exciting” things to Toronto and the rest of Canada very soon.
“We’re hiring people all over the country (Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto to be exact) to bring you such important things such as Poutine On-Demand and free rides to important milestones like the Gold Medal game. And we’re proud to contribute to the communities in which we operate.”
Earlier this week we reported that Uber launched its “Ride for a Cause” initiative in Toronto. Be sure to check out our post to find out how to get involved.
