Five years after making its first inroads into the Metro Vancouver market, Uber is setting its sights on expanding its ride-hailing service area across British Columbia.
The ride-hailing giant announced today its app-based ride-hailing platform will be expanded across BC in early 2025.
Its ride-hailing services have already been expanded to BC’s two other largest urban areas of Victoria and Kelowna, as of June 2023.
Then, in September 2023, Uber further expanded its ride-hailing service area to cover all of the Lower Mainland, including all areas of Metro Vancouver and nearly all of the Fraser Valley — as far east as Agassiz and Harrison Hot Springs.
The upcoming move to expand across BC is grounded on Uber receiving approval in May 2023 from BC’s Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) for a license transfer from another ride-hailing company to operate across the province, which Uber used to initially expand to Victoria and Kelowna.
This BC-wide expansion means ride-hailing trips can soon be made from Vancouver to Whistler or from Nanaimo to Victoria, upon disembarking on Vancouver Island from BC Ferries or Hullo Ferries, for example.
“British Columbians and visitors alike are constantly opening the app to try and find a ride just like they can in most cities across the country,” said Michael van Hemmen, general manager of mobility for Uber Canada, in a statement today.
“It’s time that residents across the province have the same access to rideshare as they do in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kelowna to help get them where they need to go, when they need to.”
The PTB previously expressed some ambivalence over the continued expansion of ride-hailing due to its impact on taxi businesses, especially during the pandemic-time downturn in transportation demand.
Although the major ride-hailing services provide alternative work for taxi drivers, Uber has long maintained that its app also offers many people flexible work as a supplemental income source to their primary job.
Ahead of the BC-wide expansion, Uber is encouraging more eligible British Columbian drivers to sign up as drivers starting today. As an incentive, the company is offering a one-time $500 initial bonus payment for eligible drivers who complete their profile and complete 10 trips within the first four weeks of the BC-wide launch.
“For those with a safe driving record, a flexible opportunity to earn money on their own time,” continued van Hemmen.
“While the app will be available across the entire province, rides will only be available where drivers actively sign up and go online to do trips. We’re looking for drivers from Nanaimo to Fort St. John and everywhere in between.”
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada and tourism and hospitality businesses support Uber’s expansion across the province.
Conversely, Lyft’s service area within BC remains limited to only the borders of Metro Vancouver, including Bowen Island.