Uber excitement

Jon Warner squatted down over the chipped concrete floor at the Chico Yellow Cab office and took out a clipboard with notes and numbers. He assigned out a pick-up at the Amtrak station and the driver panicked a bit as her designated arrival time was growing close. “You have time,” Warner reassured her. As assistant manager, he’s responsible for scheduling and assigning rides to about a dozen drivers.

Chico Yellow Cab—and the rest of the dozen or so taxi companies in town—faces a new competitor, and some say it doesn’t play fairly. Uber, a ride-sharing business popular in big cities and available in 60 countries, went live in Chico last week. And it has local cab companies concerned. With low fares, the ease of a smartphone app to hail a ride (Liberty Cab also has an app, which it launched last month) and the flexibility for drivers to create their own hours, Uber presents a unique challenge in Chico’s taxi world. The company recently held a recruitment event at the Residence Inn, during which hundreds of interested Chico drivers stopped by, said Laura Zapata, Uber spokeswoman.

To become an Uber driver, an applicant must be 21 years or older, submit and pass a background check, have a clean driving record and have an eligible vehicle—2005 model or newer, with four doors, a clean title, and able to pass a vehicle inspection. Uber’s entry in the Chico market came as the result of a large number of app downloads by people in the area, according to Zapata.

“We expect it’s going to be an exciting market,” she said.

Uber sounds like a great idea to Ben Etherington, a crash safety technician in Chico. His experience with the app started while standing on a curb with his cat after visiting a veterinarian in Chicago. After an encounter with a rude taxi dispatcher, he decided to download the Uber app. It was easy, he said. He signed up, took a photo of his credit card instead of typing in the information, and started browsing for a driver. Someone was there almost immediately.

Etherington drove for Lyft, another ride-sharing company, in Chicago this past summer. Although he prefers Lyft to Uber because of its smaller business scale, he’s considering applying to become a part-time Uber driver in Chico. Drivers set their own schedule and receive 75 percent of a customer’s fare.

Jim Mead, a Chico Yellow Cab driver, said it’s too early to say if Uber will change the local taxi climate, but he did not notice a change in calls the week Uber went live. Although there is concern, he said his customer base will help keep the business afloat.

“Chico is a very unique city,” he said. “I don’t know if Uber is going to survive.”

What bothers Warner is that Uber is not held to the same standards as local cab companies. Under Chico’s municipal code, local cab companies are required to have a city business license, proof of insurance, be drug and alcohol tested, have background checks, and have their photograph and fingerprints on file with the Chico Police Department. If Uber had to follow suit, Warner would be more receptive to the idea, he said.

An Uber representative spoke to interim Lt. Rob Merrifield to let the Chico Police Department know the company was going to start business in Chico. As of today, Uber is not following the same municipal codes as taxis, he said. Talks with the city attorney are underway to determine if Uber should be following the same rules, or if it will be exempt like charter party carriers, which are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Kevin Stites, who’s been driving a Chico Yellow Cab on and off for about three years, says the company will remain competitive by maintaining good relationships with clients who use taxis. He acknowledged, however, that some of his colleagues might not be as optimistic.

“They don’t really know what to make from it and they feel threatened,” he said. “Once they calm down, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and do it better. I mean, what else can we do?”