Uber, the San Francisco based transportation startup, seems to be rapidly expanding in many cities around the world. In China, the company is set to expand by hiring more employees and launching in 12 smaller cities.
Uber is now looking to hire new general managers, community managers, and operations managers to work in the following cities: Suzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Chengdu. Other cities like Macau and Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Taipei in Taiwan are also in the lineup. Positions are posted on LinkedIn.
In the mainland China, Uber has already established offices in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing. In these cities, the private car service app directly competes with local taxi-hailing companies Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache.
Uber is a venture-funded transportation company that operates through mobile apps. The apps are downloaded to a customer’s smartphone to allow him to book and track cars for hire. Hailing a car, tracking the driver, and paying for the service can be done right on the Uber smartphone app. It is an efficient transportation hailing system and it’s been gaining a lot of attention in Taipei already.
In Taiwan, Uber was introduced last August 2013 but has since been the subject of complaints in the city. Last May, cab drivers are accusing Uber that it is operating outside the law of Taipei and has licensing offenses.
According to the Taipei City Taxi Business Association officials, Uber operates with an unlicensed limo service and taxi brokerage and that Uber operates with a meter that is only for the yellow cabs in Taipei.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) was quick to respond to the accusations and said that Uber is not a taxi service provider. The company in question is listed in the city as a leasing business so the regulations and licenses for the taxis don’t apply to Uber.
Base fare in Taipei for Uber is only $1.70 (NT$50). That’s lower than the yellow cabs’ $2.35 (NT$70) base fare so you can see competition is stiff among the drivers.
Uber is not illegal but proper licensing is transparent on pricing. At present, Uber divers have commercial licenses while driver counterparts in other countries only have private licenses.
