Uber begins ride-sharing service in Vegas, Reno

After months of strategizing, representatives of Uber say they will launch their controversial ride-sharing platform in Las Vegas and Reno this afternoon.

In the company’s initial rollout, Uber drivers will not pick up customers in the city’s resort corridor or at McCarran International Airport but will be able to drop off passengers at those locations.

Company officials say the service will be available across the Las Vegas Valley and in Reno and Carson City with rates that are 10 percent to 20 percent below taxi rates.

Regulators, meanwhile, say they will enforce the state’s transportation statutes and regulations, which means they probably will cite drivers and impound their vehicles if they’re caught transporting customers without a license.

“We’re going to enforce the law,” said Bruce Breslow, director of the state’s Department of Business and Industry, which oversees the Nevada Transportation Authority and the Nevada Taxicab Authority. “We’re not going to get into an argument over philosophies,”

Philosophical differences are what have driven the debate over Uber and other ride-sharing companies seeking to operate in the state.

To the Taxicab Authority’s enforcement staff, Uber drivers are like any other illegal operator. The authority oversees Clark County’s 16 taxi companies and monitors cab operations, mostly along the Strip and at the airport.

But to Uber management, the company is a technology platform that connects people who need rides to drivers who can provide them. They say they aren’t a transportation company and the drivers who will operate in Southern Nevada are independent contractors who sign an agreement that enables them to use the company’s app, which also provides electronic payments from the passenger to the driver.

“For far too long, Las Vegans have been underserved by incumbent industries, leaving behind the people that live and work in Vegas,” said William Barnes, Uber’s western regional manager. “Your safe, reliable and affordable ride has arrived Las Vegas — and we’re here to stay.”

‘HUNDREDS OF DRIVERS’

Uber spokeswoman Eva Behrend said the company has contracted with “hundreds of drivers.” During the past 45 days, the company has monitored 50,000 people opening the Uber app in Southern Nevada. The company said hundreds of thousands of people have the app on their smartphones worldwide and are familiar with its operation because they’ve used the service in more than 200 cities in 45 countries.

Uber therefore believes the service will be successful in Las Vegas where millions of foreign tourists visit annually.

But in the early going, the company wants to focus on serving residential neighborhoods, where Uber officials think local taxi companies are weakest.

“The focus for us is on the fact that you have an industry that hasn’t been serving the people that live and work in Vegas,” Uber spokesman Lane Kasselman said. “Our launch is to focus on those people. So we’re launching in Las Vegas, but we’re not launching on the Strip. We’re launching to provide the product to people that actually live and work here … . We think the regulators will recognize this unmet need and will be supportive of our efforts to address the problem.”

But Brent Bell, president of Whittlesea Bell Transportation, owner of several taxi, limousine and bus companies in Nevada, expects regulators to not only be unsupportive but to do everything they can to prevent Uber from operating.

“Just because they have slick new technology doesn’t give them the right to completely and arrogantly ignore the law,” said Bell, who also is president of the Livery Operators Association, a group of limousine and taxi companies that represents about 75 percent of the local industry.

Bell compared the arrival of Uber to the introduction of a new video poker machine to a casino without the machine being tested by regulators.

“There’s no way this state would allow that to happen,” Bell said. “There’s no difference between the two.”

Bell said he’s concerned that Uber drivers would operate without commercial vehicle liability insurance, without vehicle safety inspections and with drivers who haven’t had background checks or drug tests.

Uber officials dispute Bell’s assertions, saying the company has a primary $1 million commercial liability insurance policy that’s in effect from the time a driver picks up a passenger to the time the passenger is dropped off.

“That million-dollar policy outpaces what taxi companies do here,” Behrend said.

She added Uber drivers must use a vehicle that is a 2005 or later model that has undergone a 19-point inspection by an independent mechanic. The inspection must be completed before a driver can apply to contract with the company.

CHECKING BACKGROUNDS

Investigators also review in advance the backgrounds of prospective drivers. Company officials say they conduct annual reviews of drivers, looking for violations and criminal activity over the previous seven years. Uber, they say, has zero tolerance for driving-while-intoxicated convictions.

Semi-retired Emerlita Torres is among the drivers who will start working as a contracted Uber driver today.

“When I first started the process, I had never heard of them,” Torres said. “When I saw the ads to ‘be your own boss,’ I got interested.”

The Las Vegas resident, who has been in the real estate business for 14 years, figured she had an opportunity when she heard that downtown residents were having a hard time getting taxi service.

Maria Nekljudova, a three-year Las Vegas resident, said she’s eager to meet people in her new role as an Uber driver.

“I expect to make a little money, but I also think this will be fun,” she said.

Uber plans to continue to interview and contract with drivers after today.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta