Uber launches ride sharing service in Juarez
Buses, taxis, and now private cars are helping people get around Cd. Juarez: Uber launched its ride sharing service in our sister city Friday.
It faces an uphill battle to overcome the dominance of an entrenched taxi industry and the fears of a crime-rattled community.
Juarenses ABC-7 spoke with said the threat of random kidnappings would make them leery of getting in a car with a stranger who’s not part of a company they know and trust.
People we spoke with say it’s not really a question of which is cheaper or faster, rather who they feel safer with. “I’ll still take a taxi home after a night out with friends, I really feel more comfortable with the established industry,” Sandra Robles said.
“I actually prefers uber because it’s faster and I really feel safer,” said Mariana Garcia.
An Uber driver tells ABC-7 he thinks people will switch over. “With time people will learn more about Uber and get used to the service,” Marco Antonio Mayo, a Juarez Uber driver, said.
Mayo said he expects most Juarez Uber users to be people who have used Uber in other cities. Some El Pasoans say they even look forward to using the car service in Juarez, especially to the Juarez airport.
We spoke with an Uber Mexico representative who said Uber Passport, a service that allows Uber drivers in the U.S. to take passengers to Mexico is going to be implemented in the borderland at a later date.
