Been meaning to post this for a week or so, but have on very good authority that Uber is coming to OKC and will start setting up a small office to get things running next week. Great news for OKC, the urban community, and will hopefully disrupt/improve our taxi/black car/limo market and give us some good national exposure.

https://www.uber.com/

This link would seem to confirm your statement:

https://www.uber.com/jobs/o30WXfwG

I know of more details but can't say until next week, unless they release a news release first. This is a good win for OKC.

Depending on how many they are looking at expanding to, this makes them as one of 28 U.S. cities they see their service working in. Not a bad peer group.

I am curious where they would set up shop. I would bet either DT/BT or the Meridian corridor but I could be completely wrong.

This is a good get for OKC. As pointed out, a good peer group of services they service. This kind of shows how OKC is being perceived and its growth as an urban center.

Have they changed their app and permissions? I travel a lot and have a lot of friends that use them but was uncomfortable after downloading app. It required that you give them permission to access your photos on your device. I can understand location but not photos. When I asked, they couldn't give me a reason for needing access to my photos. (May be a little paranoid but don't really want people accessing my kids photos, etc)

Glad to see it come here. Houston is having a helluva time attracting them because of issues with Yellow Cab (I think that's the issue, don't hold me to that)

I am curious where they would set up shop. I would bet either DT/BT or the Meridian corridor but I could be completely wrong.

Film Row, can't give exact details yet, but I have specifics.

Glad to see it come here. Houston is having a helluva time attracting them because of issues with Yellow Cab (I think that's the issue, don't hold me to that)

Yeah but they're Uber popular in the Bay Area (SFO), Seattle, NYC and typical urban centers. They're totally distrupting the market, and providing better service and for cheaper usually. In some markets, the cabby unions have put up a fight, and ended up losing. Courts found that Uber had a better run operation, and ended up fining or putting stricter standards on the cabbies. LOL. Score OKC. This has a lot to do with the burgeoning tech hub we're becoming.

So what the heck is this... is this a taxi service, or is this random people with nice cars giving strangers a ride for money?

Yeah but they're Uber popular in .....

I saw what you did there. :)

We use Über in SF when I visit my daughter. I love the fact that its prepaid and you can designate a tip. They're very prompt. No problems with it that I've found.

So what the heck is this... is this a taxi service, or is this random people with nice cars giving strangers a ride for money?
It offers a service of connecting customers with the limo/black car type of businesses for rides.

They have had all sorts of regulatory battles here in Denver over whether they are a "taxi service" or not. All sorts of attorney general, governor and regulatory agency opinions flying around. Lat I heard (a few weeks ago) they were legal to operate but under some conditions, mainly to satisfy the taxi lobby.

It looks like they'll be around a while with such a great group of investors. Here are the Uber Investors. Lowercase and Menlo, two of my faves, are funding some incredible projects. Lowercase is a big investor of Kickstarter, which in turn, is a crowd funding source for multitudes of projects. Great news!

http://i.imgur.com/hSsjIah.jpg

Here's a link where you can click on each logo and read about some of their entrepreneurial investments.
https://www.uber.com/about

I use this company regularly to make reservations around the world. They also operate in OKC. Is there a significant difference?

Book A Limo, top quality limousine service, Atlanta Limo : NYC : Detroit : EL Paso : Rome : Salt Lake City : Tallahassee : New Mexico : Indianapolis : Las Vegas : Mexico City Limo : Book a Limo (http://bookalimo.com/)

uber is great .. i just used them in chicago for OU ND ..

It's official, they started yesterday, got me a VIP card. Hope it's successful for OKC.4631

It's official, they started yesterday, got me a VIP card. Hope it's successful for OKC.4631

how do i get one of those/ what are the "vip" card benifits?

From looking at their other job listings it seems that they're expanding into OKC, KC, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, and Richmond.

Well, Uber has their first OKC endorsement:

Nick Collison‏@nickcollison45m Im happy to be rider 0 for @uber_okc. Im excited @uber is here in okc. I use @uber all the time and I love it.

https://www.uber.com/cities/oklahoma-city

If you don't know what Uber is, it is a really cool tech startup that essentially offers taxi rides through a really slick smartphone app. These are normal cars, not taxis, and they come to your location using GPS. The payment is all handled through your account on your phone, so no dealing with cash. If you have tried it out in places like NYC or San Francisco, you know it is a really great service, and now it is in OKC!

Source: Uber Blog | Ubers are hitting the roads of OKC, y?all! (http://blog.uber.com/secretokc)

So you can start your own taxi service and provide it when it fits your schedule.

So you can start your own taxi service and provide it when it fits your schedule.

No. I believe you have to have a limo license and meet those requirements. Somebody else probably knows the requirements.

There was a service started in San Fran like you described where people were just picking other people up, but those people ended up getting arrested and fined. It's illegal to to transport people for money without the proper license.

There is a huge battle going on in Dallas right now as Yellow Cab as been working behind the scenes at city hall trying to get Uber shut down in the city of Dallas.

https://www.uber.com/
What exactly is uber?

Private driver service, similar to a taxi but in several ways, importantly
different. Read through the website. Give it a try. You'll like it.
Upon seeing the site it looked like one needed to join before checking
it out. I'll look again.

Thanx.

Yeah, they announced they were coming here and looking for drivers
about a week or so.

They are great to use. It will be good seeing them here as well.
I checked out the site, a little, and I'm not fully sure that I understand
it. Maybe it's because I'm not engaged with the current 'pop culture'
and don't fully understand the absence of meaningful information. LOL!

I know most on this thread are close to 40 years my younger, but what
does a musician know?

NO OFFENSE! Seriously.

It appears to be a "Limo" service without limo's unless one is requested.
Am I close? Who provides the car?

Also, scroll down to the cars and you can click on the different ones
to see the difference in the cars they offer.
I saw them. Who provides them? Uber or the driver?

I appreciate your help.

The driver. With the exception of UberX (the first kind of service rolling out in
OKC) most of the cars are already commercially owned and operated limo or
private driver cars. Uber in that case then, acts as a way to fill the day with
more trips. Which is why that class of drivers loves it...
That makes sense. Thanx.

What will be the cost for downtown to the airport?

What will be the cost for downtown to the airport?

The site estimate is 23-26

Virtually every city that Uber is in has Taxi companies trying to shut down Uber. Ultimately, they will lose though there will be a couple small victories for them along the way. The future doesn't look good for the traditional taxi service.
The same thing happened here in Denver this year, even to the point of the attorney general and governor getting involved.

We used it in Dallas last weekend. Worked great.

Once you get confirmation on your car they send you a message with the type of car, Lic #, and a picture of who will pick you up and an ETA.

You are not wondering if anybody is actually coming like with a taxi.

It was cheaper than a regular taxi which is right around $30 for me
usually to Deep Deuce.
I believe I'm getting the gist of UBER. It's a taxi service of sorts.

I'm all for it.

Is this the AirBNB of transportation? Kind of?

20$ off code for Uber you can use the special UberJayne link:https://www.uber.com/invite/uberJayne They are going to need more drivers quick, out of towners love the service. I picked up this guy today for the first uber ever in OKC
4770

20$ off code for Uber you can use the special UberJayne link:https://www.uber.com/invite/uberJayne They are going to need more drivers quick, out of towners love the service. I picked up this guy today for the first uber ever in OKC

And if we hadn't passed the MAPS arena initiative, your first customer wouldn't have been a photo op worthy person. We probably wouldn't have Uber if we didn't have an improved arena, as the Thunder moving here really jump-started what was happening downtown and elsewhere. One of life's little ironies.

If you don't know what Uber is, it is a really cool tech startup that essentially offers taxi rides through a really slick smartphone app. These are normal cars, not taxis, and they come to your location using GPS. The payment is all handled through your account on your phone, so no dealing with cash. If you have tried it out in places like NYC or San Francisco, you know it is a really great service, and now it is in OKC!

Source: Uber Blog | Ubers are hitting the roads of OKC, y?all! (http://blog.uber.com/secretokc)

Nice blog entry.



Nick Collison scored the perfect drive when he requested the first uberX ride in OKC at the touch of a button.
Within minutes, Nick’s driver arrived to take him to practice, earning him the title of Oklahoma City Rider Zero.


http://blog.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Uber_Nick.jpg

http://blog.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/OKCphone.png

20$ off code for Uber you can use the special UberJayne link:https://www.uber.com/invite/uberJayne They are going to need more drivers quick, out of towners love the service. I picked up this guy today for the first uber ever in OKC
4770

Would you be comfortable saying that you directly or indirectly profited personally from a MAPS investment?

Wow - I take it OkieDave wasn't a big fan of MAPS?

Anyway, so amazing to see Uber here. I hope they are successful. Downloaded the app yesterday - not sure when I will use it, but will definitely keep it in mind for airport trips, etc. Heck I'm tempted to just sign up as a driver and take KD to practice if he needs!

Just used uber to and from their launch party this evening, and I'm impressed and very pleased. There's such ease and you're not nervously watching your cab meter jumping up and up. The rides were clean and the drivers were friendly, and using the smartphone app to call a car, getting a guaranteed car, see who's picking you up and their ratings, watching the car drive up to you on your map, getting an estimated fare, and not handling any money directly to the driver are (in my mind) huge benefits over taking a regular cab.

The best part is that improving our public transit will BENEFIT uber, not take away their business.

If you don't know what Uber is, it is a really cool tech startup that essentially offers taxi rides through a really slick smartphone app. These are normal cars, not taxis, and they come to your location using GPS. The payment is all handled through your account on your phone, so no dealing with cash. If you have tried it out in places like NYC or San Francisco, you know it is a really great service, and now it is in OKC!

Source: Uber Blog | Ubers are hitting the roads of OKC, y?all! (http://blog.uber.com/secretokc)

This is the post I needed. Thank you...

I downloaded the app and registered. I'm very excited about this service.

Let me guess, this app is not available for my Blackberry :(

I too downloaded the app but I doubt I'll use it..

There isn't an app per se on the blackberry, but I have a link to the website app as an icon on my home screen. if that makes sense.

There isn't an app per se on the blackberry, but I have a link to the website app as an icon on my home screen. if that makes sense.

how'd you get that? still stuck with this damned thing for another year

It'd be nice to get some photo credit for this picture, I keep seeing it pop up all over the place, guess I have to start using those dreaded "watermarks".

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has some concerns.

Car services, Oklahoma Corporation Commission voice UberX concerns | KFOR.com (http://kfor.com/2013/10/31/car-services-oklahoma-corporation-commission-voice-uberx-concerns/)

Used it last night to go to and from the game (Bricktown, actually). In both cases arrival took about 5 minutes after ride request. Both drivers were personable, polite and seemed safe. Vehicles in good order, comfortable and clean, though not especially luxurious by any stretch. Five bucks each way from the other side of downtown. The same cab ride usually runs around eight. Similar to using Flywheel for cab hailing, which I have done a number of times with great success. I'll use the service again.

Agree. Have really enjoyed the black car experience in places like NYC. Takes a lot of the stress out of visiting a new city too. Since I had to reserve those by phone or Internet, I'm sure that with Uber it would be even better.

I'll say this too: with TimeCar, Flywheel and now Uber, living and working downtown, if I didn't have a company-provided vehicle I would seriously consider having a motorcycle-only stable. My car sometimes sits a week or more without being driven these days.

My car hasn't indicated it needs an oil change for over a year now. I just got a "Well, we should probably change your oil since its been a year message from the dealership" but my car doesn't think so. I love being able to walk to the grocery store and could walk to work if necessary, although I usually drive.

It will be nice when OKC gets the Black Car option. It is really nice to be able to ride around in a new town car or caddy.

Won't be a new town car. Lincoln stopped making them and replace them with what I considered a pretty poor and non attractive replacement.

It will be nice when OKC gets the Black Car option. It is really nice to be able to ride around in a new town car or caddy.No Phantom? ;)

Won't be a new town car. Lincoln stopped making them and replace them with what I considered a pretty poor and non attractive replacement.I believe all car manufactures did away with the large style bodies. Mercury stopped making the Grand Marquis in 2011 and the Caddy Deville is no more either. I am pretty confident we might see come back before 2020, but who knows.

The reason they no longer make the big sedans is because the U.S. fell in love with massive SUV's like the Escalade and Navigator.

The reason they no longer make the big sedans is because the U.S. fell in love with massive SUV's like the Escalade and Navigator.

I agree but was still pretty shocked considering the town car was the stable for car services for many years. When in NYC or Vegas or pretty much any other big city...they are everywhere. Car services turn their cars more quickly due to amount of quick mileage . I predict that the Chrysler 300 will be the next standard livery service vehicle as you can still get it extended and is really the only full size sedan available

There's a lot of regulatory blowback being reported now, with stories in the Oklahoman, Journal Record, News9, KFOR, etc. Rather than saying that Uber doesn't fit within the current regulatory guidelines (which I believe is a true statement), how about using this as the opportunity to review those guidelines? Because from what I have experienced with local taxis is far less than what I would want in terms of vehicles and drivers.

I think Uber offers an interesting and possibly superior product, but it's fair to ask if the drivers and vehicles are properly vetted and meet logical standards. How do we do that?