As its service is set to be capped by city leaders in Seattle, it looks like Uber has plans to offer its transportation service 35 miles down Interstate-5 in Tacoma.
Uber set up a Twitter account for @Uber_Tacoma on Wednesday afternoon and indicated interest in coming to the city with its first tweet:
https://twitter.com/Uber_Tacoma/status/443814807436009472
We’ve reached out to Uber to find out more details about the company setting up shop in Tacoma. We’ll update this story when we hear back.
In Tacoma, it is unclear whether Uber wants to offer its traditional UberBlack luxury service (which uses professional drivers) or UberX, which allows anyone to shuttle around riders with their own vehicle.
Uber does run Twitter accounts in other cities like Portland and Austin where the company wants to offer service but is running into roadblocks with city regulations. In Portland, Uber wanted to offer its luxury service, but city leaders there voted to keep the company out since Uber did not want to follow rules already in place for existing providers.
Uber can expect to face some backlash in Tacoma, too, especially if city leaders there place any of the company’s offerings in the same bucket as taxi services. Tacoma has a full list of requirements of anyone who wants to drive a taxi in its city, including proper licensing, criminal background checks and training programs.
Uber, which has its own set of background checks and insurance requirements, was founded in 2010 and is now in more than 80 cities worldwide. It recently began offering rides in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
The company operates its UberBlack and UberSUV services in Seattle with no limits, but its UberX option will soon be capped to 150 cars at any given time if the Seattle City Council approves proposed regulations on Monday.
