Lafayette has joined the ridesharing revolution with the arrival of Uber, bringing another option for residents in need of a ride.
For years, Lafayette’s cab business has been the lone territory of one company, Dixie Cab. (For more about that, check out our July cover story "Dixie Land" here.)
“We are excited that this service will be available in Lafayette,” says City-Parish President Joey Durel in a statement issued after becoming Uber’s “Rider Zero” earlier this morning [Friday]. “Many Lafayette residents have been requesting this service, and we are thrilled that Uber has seen enough demand to warrant beginning operations here.”
The San Francisco-based Uber is a ridesharing service that allows users to order and pay for rides through the company’s smart-phone app, which also provides users with information on wait times and pricing.
“Headed into PlanLafayette Week, this is a great shot in the arm,” says Carlee Alm-LaBar, chief development officer for Lafayette Consolidated Government. “Our message continues to be that the plan is a living document that we are actively working from, and each time we can check an action item off the list, we build trust in the plan and the process we went through as a community.”
Uber’s arrival will also be part of a panel discussion on Wednesday, featuring Public Works Director Kevin BLanchard, New Orleans-based transportation expert Jim Amdal, local cycling advocate Monique Kill and local architect Steve Oubre. (For more on that discussion, or to register, click here.)
According to Durel, a revision is already underway of the city’s “vehicles for hire” ordinance to allow for services like Uber.
“As you might expect, our code of ordinances is behind the times and silent on ‘transportation network providers,’” says Durel. “We had already been anticipating the arrival of these types of services, so we had already started the process of modernizing and revising our ordinances to explicitly govern these providers. In the meantime, Uber’s deployment here is just a sign that Lafayette’s strong economy provides a great place to do business.”
Uber will begin accepting ride requests from the public starting at 1 p.m. Friday.