Uber drives into TT

Although the Works and Transport Ministry issued a statement a few hours later, questioning the legality of Uber’s operations under the current version of The Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act, people continue to request a ride from their present location to a destination of their choosing, all from the convenience of the smartphones.

The ministry and Uber are reportedly set to meet sometime next week to discuss the matter.

Business Day tested out the service on Monday afternoon, prior to rush hour traffic, to get an idea of the cost is using an Uber versus taking a regular taxi for hire (H taxi) or an illegal private hire (PH) taxi from Port-of-Spain to The Falls at West Mall (West Mall) Westmoorings.

To get an H or PH taxi, one has to walk to the south-west corner of Broadway and South Quay, where you sit according to which seat is free in the vehicle/s on the taxi stand at that time. The cost of a one-way trip is $5 to $7 therefore one can put aside $10 to $14 for a round trip.

Uber, on the other hand, will pick you up wherever you are in Port-of-Spain and if you are travelling alone to West Mall, “you have the whole backseat or the front seat to choose from,” as one Uber user put it.

Your pocket however will feel the difference between an Uber and an H or PH taxi. The minimum Uber fare is TT$32.50, with the final cost of your trip being based on the following:

Base fare: TT $20.00

Per minute: TT $1.20

Per kilometre: TT $1.40

Booking fee: TT $2.50.

I requested an Uber at 1.30 pm on Monday and within a few minutes, my driver arrived at my designated collection point - the north-western corner of Chacon Street and Independence Square. Uber provides users with a photo of the driver who has accepted their request, along with that person’s license plate number and the vehicle’s estimated time of arrival.

The arrival time is constantly updated as the Uber driver makes his/her way to you. While you won’t know until you have reached your destination how much your bill will be – you can use a credit card or cash to pay in Trinidad – Uber does provide you with an estimated fare when you request a ride.

When my Uber arrived, the driver, Rajesh, did indeed look like his photo and his car was, as is mandatory with Uber, clean and had a properly working air-conditioning (A/C) system.

I was Rajesh’s first customer and he was my first Uber driver in Trinidad (I used Uber once overseas). He was polite and very willing to answer Business Day’s questions en route to the mall.

Asked why he chose to become an Uber driver, Rajesh said, “I like driving. I like meeting people.” A plus for Uber users who get Rajesh as their driver is that his previous job involved driving “all over Trinidad to collect teak (lumber) for export”, so he knows several alternate routes for destinations across the island.

In interviews conducted the previous Friday, Uber’s Communications Associate for Central America and the Caribbean, Julie Robinson-Centella, informed the media that Monday was launch day. Local Uber drivers however, were notified via text message one day before launch.

Rajesh smiled as he told me, “It’s a good thing I made sure to clean my car late last week because they had said the service would launch soon but it wasn’t until yesterday (Sunday) that I got a text saying we would be accepting rude requests from 11 am today.”

At the end of my journey, the bill came up to $46. I had a voucher from Uber, which covered the cost of my first ride, up to TT $70, so there was no need to use my cash. Having done as requested and entered the voucher number before the end of my journey, within seconds of Rajesh used his phone to indicate on the Uber app that he had dropped me off, a bill was sent to my email address, reflecting a payment of TT $0.00.

Having spent about 15 minutes in West Mall, I requested another Uber to take me back to the exact spot from which I was collect earlier by Rajesh.

There being no Ubers nearby, I had a 15 minute wait for Uber driver, Leah, to reach me. Noticing the app wanted me to wait by the side of the very busy Western Main Road, something I didn’t want to do because of the lack of shelter and the exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes, I used the “Contact” option to text Leah my preferred collection point at a side entrance to the mall. (You can also call you Uber driver via this option).

While Leah’s vehicle was a little older than Rajesh’s, it was just as clean and had working A/C. Robinson-Centella had spoken of Uber’s concern about hiring the right people as drivers, and while I’ve only used Uber twice so far, Leah, like Rajesh, was friendly and willing to be interviewed.

Asked about the reason for her joining Uber, Leah said, “I started driving taxi with an H vehicle in 2013. I am always looking for business opportunities, especially self-employment matters.”

“I have a cousin in Virginia who’s an Uber driver and he told me the company was getting ready to come to Trinidad, so I said well I’m definitely doing that because if I’m accustomed working a traditional taxi, I can more than work for Uber, plus it would be less hassle; not having to hustle to fill your car each trip,” Leah shared.

Like Rajesh and Robinson- Centella, Leah cited safety and convenience as the main reasons why people in TT would want to use Uber even though it is more expensive than a regular fare in an H or PH taxi.

“The crime situation in Trinidad now, having a service like Uber gives you and your loved ones a sense of peace because you can share with them (via smartphone) who’s picking you up, when and where from. With a regular taxi, you would have to ask to take a photo of the driver. It’s just more convenient over all.”

Regarding the cost of an Uber, Leah argued that in some situations it might actually be cheaper than hiring a taxi to take you somewhere.

On the flip side, Leah said that “based on demand, the rate may go up, which would be a plus for drivers.”

“(For example) if there’s a huge pile up of traffic because there’s a concert at Hasely Crawford Stadiumor a lot of people at the stadium are requesting an Uber at the same time, you’d have something called a surge in price. The price might surge by 1.5 times the regular rate, so there are a lot of incentives for drivers. The (incentives) also inspired me to join Uber, not just the convenience of working when/where I choose to.”

Trinidad and Tobago is the first English-speaking Caribbean country in which Uber is present, the company having already launched its services in the Dominican Republic in November 2015 and in Puerto Rico in July 2016.

What’s next for Uber? Robinson- Centella revealed to Business Day that further expansion in the region this year is what Uber is focused on.

“At the end of the day, we’re looking forward to being everywhere and providing service to everyone. We definitely want to be in most of the (Caribbean) islands by the end of 2017. There’s a huge expansion process for this year, focused on Latin America and the Caribbean,” Robinson-Centella stated.

And, in case you were wondering, the return fare to Chacon St from West Mall was TT$62.00.