Taxi app Uber offers sweet treats in bid to seduce Calgarians

Dylan Robertson, Calgary Herald 


After being frozen out of Calgary’s market, a global taxi-hailing app tried a soft-serve approach Friday to get the public on its side: delivering ice cream.

Uber Inc. is a car-hire service that allows users to request and pay for rides through their mobile phones. Founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based company operates in 41 countries. Its cities include Toronto and Montreal — but not Calgary.

The company delivered for-pay ice cream Friday through the app in 144 cities across 38 countries. But in Calgary, it was all about letting locals know they want a scoop of a market long criticized for a lack of competition.

“Uber is about providing choice to consumers and that means choices at all price points,” said Jeffrey Weshler, a Toronto manager for the company. “Calgary’s current structure makes it difficult to get a ride at an affordable price.”

Uber says the city’s taxi regulations prevent them from churning a profit, because sedan and limousine drivers are required to charge a minimum $78.34 fee instead of the metered fares charged by licensed cab drivers.

Uber does offer fares on normal taxis, but the company focuses on à la mode, luxury services for clients, often partnering with existing black-cab companies. Weshler declined to say if the company could operate in a market solely with ordinary cabs.

The company promoted the hashtag #CalgaryNeedsUber Friday, and had a similar information campaign in Vancouver. While Uber wants its just desserts, city officials say the fee structure keeps cabs safe.

Marc Halat, the city’s licensing officer, was not available for an interview Friday, which happened to be the day of an in-depth licensing meeting. In past Herald interviews, Halat has said minimum pries for both cabs and limousines are set to ensure legitimate drivers. He chalked the high limousine fee up to being a luxury service.

Uber was allowed a weeklong test run last November, where it gave free rides using local sedan service operators.

“I think form both user and driver standpoint, there’s a lot of excitement behind the platform being used in Calgary; that’s what we came away with,” said Weshler.

Friday’s ice cream offers varied by city, with Calgarians originally offered five unspecified treats for $25 before the company made all treats free and said it would refund all paid offers. Local ice cream trucks were commissioned for the promotion, adorned with the company’s decals.

Peter McCaffrey, a research fellow with the Manning Foundation, got a chocolate King Cone from an Uber-ordered truck. He had a smooth experience using the app on holiday in San Diego, and says the city’s rules are shutting out a mobile-based business model young people expect.

“It’s a bit facetious of council to say it’s not specifically banned,” he said. “If you told a restaurant they could only charge $200 a meal you’ve basically banned them. It’s a bit of semantic thing.”

Similar to last year’s event, which only involved 33 cities, some users complained about ice cream being unavailable.

“I think it’s a great idea but I’ve been trying for over half an hour without any luck,” Christina Gail told the Herald with an hour of the event’s 4 p.m. close. “It would be better if they just flat out told you that there were no more spots to request.”

But Gail said she supports Uber’s push for fewer regulations.

“I think the rules are ridiculous. Why charge 78$ for a limo ride if you’re in there for minutes mins, and they say that it’s unsafe but it’s worked in other Canadian cities such as Toronto. Why wouldn’t it work here?”

She says the cherry on top is the ability to have rides charged to a pre-registered credit card.

“It’s way better to be able to pay from the app and not deal with it in person.”

A similar app developed locally, FastCab, connects clients with Calgary taxis, but doesn’t have the same features as Uber, such as quoting prices before a user requests a ride.

Uber sparked protests across Europe last month when it suddenly dropped its platform’s rates. Taxi drivers said their rates were being undercut, while companies complained the app had a competitive advantage while not being subject to the same restrictions and taxes.



