Port Elizabeth will become the 4th South African city to join the Uber transport revolution this week.
The Uber App goes live in Nelson Mandela Bay on Thursday, making it the ninth African country to employ this technology which offers customers an additional technology-based transport solution.
Speaking at the official Uber media launch on Tuesday, general manager Alon Lits, said it was just a question of time before they hit the Eastern Cape.
He told Algoa FM News that 10 000 people in Port Elizabeth have already downloaded the App.
"We launched in Johanneburg in 2013. That was the 34th city for Uber globally and our first African city. That was quickly followed by Cape Town and Durban. The great part of that is that South Africa was the first country outside of the US where we saw three cities operational at the same time."
"So, it just gives you a sense for how large we think the opportunity is here in South Africa. In 2014 we saw over 1 million trips booked on the Uber platform and already in the first half of 2015 we've seen over two million trips booked on the Uber platform."
"We've been eyeing the Eastern Cape for a long time. The timing issue was really on our side when had enough resources within the team to get here. We're very excited to be here. What drew us to PE and to the Eastern Cape is that we saw this organic demand coming from the city. We can obviously track when someone downloads the Uber Application, where that happens, where they've opened it up."
"And, what we've seen is that 10 000 people in PE have already downloaded the application, wanting Uber to be there but not being able to request the product. So, we are now ready, we're excited and we're launching over the Festive season."
"There's definitely opportunity beyond PE. What we gonna see is how things grow here, get PE right and then most definitely look for expansion beyond that."
"We partner with existing transportation providers as well as new entrants to the market. So, for example a metered taxi operator who has his or her own small business can continue to operate the way that they did before Uber entered. They can use Uber to create more opportunity, so they can now get requests from people using the Uber Application. In addition to that as we start to build a safe, reliable transportation option, and this in the four-seater sedan market, we see more and more people requesting Uber, using Uber and more entrants entering the market."
"What we've seen is when someone opens the application they see the waiting time reduced and Uber becomes more reliable in the market demand for this product increases means that the pie gets bigger and more entrants can enter and make a real, great living from the technology."
Refering to the "push -back" by other metered taxi operators, Lits said this was a result of misinformation
"Uber is an open technology platform. So, existing transportation operators can make use of Uber's platform and continue to operate the way they were before."
Mandlakazi Skefile of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism welcomed the introduction of Uber to the Metro.
"We are extremely excited about the launch of Uber in Nelson Mandela Bay. It is going to be a very convenient service during this festive season and throughout the rest of the year. We have seen it operating in other parts of the world and in the country. We feel that we are now becoming more of a global city" he said.
