FREEBIES:The company said it was providing its app to three local taxi operators free of charge for three months, adding that Taipei cabs had a 30 percent utilization rate
Taipei Times
Date: Oct 31, 2017
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
US-based ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc yesterday announced partnerships
Uber Asia Pacific chief business officer Brooks Entwistle, center, promotes the launch of UberTAXI, a partnership between Uber Taiwan and local taxi companies, at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, accompanied by Q Taxi chief of operations Lin Chen-lun, left, and Q Taxi CEO Hua Kuan-fu, second left, Asia Pacific Taxi Co CEO Chen Hsin-jun, right, and Crown Taxi Co CEO Wu Chun-te, second right. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
with three small-scale Taipei taxi operators to set up its UberTaxi service, in its latest efforts to secure a licensed operation.
Uber Taiwan, a local arm of Uber Technologies, is transforming itself into a taxi-hailing platform from a vehicle-sharing service by collaborating with licensed cab drivers, as it faces mounting pressure from local regulators to exit Taiwan.
Since making a comeback in mid-April, Uber Taiwan has teamed up with more than 100 local car rental companies, which provide licensed drivers and cars.
“We do this in complete cooperation and working with local governments,” said Brooks Entwistle, the firm’s new chief business officer for the Asia-Pacific region, at a news conference in Taipei. “This is what we want to do and what we are doing going forward.”
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