Uber has entered the Greater Sudbury marketplace, with the U.S.-headquartered company joining other options already available in the Nickel City \n<\/p>\n
Effective today, Greater Sudburians can fire up an Uber app and request a ride. The service is also now available through a wide swath of northeastern Ontario.<\/p>\n
The company joins other rideshare companies already operating in Greater Sudbury, including URide<\/a>, Y Drive<\/a> and SettleInn DriveU<\/a>, which was locally developed and tailored for newcomers.<\/p>\n Uber\u2019s expansion between Gravenhurst and Cochrane, including Greater Sudbury, was announced last month<\/a>. It was officially launched during a media event outside of Coll\u00e8ge Bor\u00e9al on Aug. 24, hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n \u201cThis launch is about choice and connection, it\u2019s another way to get to work, to reach a medical appointment, reach a local business or get home safely at the end of the night,\u201d Uber Canada head of public policy and communications Laura Miller told the crowd.<\/p>\n Front and centre during the media event was Mothers Against Drunk Driving, whose president, Steve Sullivan, said they welcome Uber\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery community deserves to have a safe way home, and that shouldn\u2019t depend on where you live,\u201d he said. \u201cMADD Canada has long stressed the importance of giving people as many options as possible to get home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n Sudburian Kim Hancock also spoke at the event. Her 18-year-old son, DJ<\/a>, died on Aug. 22, 2014, after an impaired driver crashed into his vehicle head-on. His name is on a memorial park<\/a> in the city\u2019s South End, and the Hancock family has advocated against impaired driving<\/a> in various capacities ever since, including DJ\u2019s older sister, Jaymie-Lyne, spending time as national president<\/a> of MADD Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are always choices; choices that don\u2019t involve driving impaired,\u201d Hancock said during the Aug. 24 Uber launch event.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving another option like Uber adds another important tool to the toolbox for the people of the north. \u2026 This is something the north has needed for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the public remarks, Miller declined to share with Sudbury.com how many local drivers Uber has enlisted thus far, but said, \u201cwe have enough to support the launch.\u201d<\/p>\n Drivers go through background screening, vehicle inspection and a training program before being onboarded, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs drivers are coming through, we\u2019re excited to have more drivers join us, but we feel confident that we can launch.\u201d<\/p>\n In light of recent pushback against U.S.-headquartered businesses in the wake of ongoing tariffs<\/a> imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Sudbury.com asked how Uber markets themselves locally when Canadian-based rideshare options are already available.<\/p>\n \u201cCanadians are thinking about these things as they go forward, but just understanding that these are hyper-local transactions, the driver lives here in this community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a global company based in California, but we\u2019re really proud of the investments we\u2019ve made here and the community connections we\u2019ve made.\u201d<\/p>\n They have more than 500 people employed across Canada and develop the software which powers the global company in Toronto.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find that when rideshare is enabled in a community, you actually see the overall market for these types of trips grow,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s just good for local residents to have a choice, and local drivers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n On what sets Uber apart, Miller cited safety features in the app which go beyond provincial rules which serve as a foundation. There\u2019s in-app audio recording, a location tracker and a four-digit security code used to verify the passenger is getting into the correct vehicle and the driver is picking up the correct passenger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a really strong package of safety features in the platform,\u201d Miller said, adding that after working in more than 700 municipalities across Canada, there have been \u201clots of learnings and lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller credited action on the part of the province<\/a> in creating a consistent rideshare framework with helping make it easier for the company to expand. This consistency between municipal jurisdictions helps eliminate past barriers wherein drivers would have been unable to cross municipal boundaries or prohibit them from picking passengers up for a return trip.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, ridesharing has already existed in the region for a while, with Cody Ruberto founding URide<\/a> in Thunder Bay in 2017 in an effort to reduce impaired driving. This service expanded to include Greater Sudbury<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n Fellow Canadian company Y Ride launched in Greater Sudbury last month and already has approximately 45 local drivers, company co-founder Rob Davidson told Sudbury.com this week.<\/p>\n \u201cWith new sign ups happening daily, but takes some time with background checks and inspections, etc.\u201d Davidson added.<\/p>\n In a media release issued during last month\u2019s launch, Davidson said, “Our goal has always been simple: provide a dependable rideshare service with local support and a great experience for both riders and drivers. We believe Sudbury deserves more choice, and we’re excited to be part of the community.”<\/p>\n These ride share companies are in addition to the nine taxi companies<\/a> licensed to operate in Greater Sudbury and GOVA Transit<\/a> options.<\/p>\n Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uber has entered the Greater Sudbury marketplace, with the U.S.-headquartered company joining other options already available in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66,302127],"class_list":["post-870161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uberuber-canadauber-sudbury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}