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Californian ride-sharing company Uber will on Monday announce plans to offer its service in Bendigo by the end of October. The company says the move is in response to strong demand from locals, citing internal statistics which show residents accessed the app about 15,000 times in the city this year in search of a ride, while more than 400 people expressed an interest in becoming a driver. Uber’s Victorian manager Lucas Groeneveld said the data showed Bendigo residents had been “calling out for ride-sharing for some time”. “We look forward to offering residents and visitors to Bendigo, a safe, affordable and reliable way to get around and enjoy the best of the city,” he said. “Importantly, ride-sharing will also offer hundreds of Bendigo locals the opportunity to make extra money driving on the app as and when it suits them.” Huntly’s Stephen Flaherty has been travelling to Melbourne to work as a driver for Uber for about 18 months and said he had carried more than 3000 passengers in that time, attracting an almost perfect rating. He welcomed Uber’s expansion to his home city as a win for both drivers and passengers, predicting fares could be up to half as expensive as taxis. “Wherever they’ve landed it’s taken off because it’s such a good offering, local people in good cars – and just around the corner half the time,” he said. “It’s significantly cheaper in Melbourne, it’s nearly half the price of a cab in Melbourne so I would imagine that would be similar [in Bendigo].” Mr Flaherty, who has an 18-year-old daughter, said younger people would most likely be among the first to start making use of the service. “People in that demographic, say 18 to 35, they pretty much use nothing else but Uber from what I hear,” he said. Ms Flahery said Uber’s Bendigo launch would provide an opportunity for others like him to make a living. “I choose to do it in a block in Melbourne so I’m not away from the family for too long, but moving to Bendigo means I’ve got the whole week to get at it,” he said. “You need to put in the hours but it can be lucrative if you put in the time, like anything I suppose.” Uber says the average wait time for the ride-sharing service in cities of a similar size to Bendigo is about five minutes. The company will operate its UberX service in Bendigo, which sees drivers use their own vehicles, and will run an information session for prospective drivers on Monday to explain the app and state government accreditation requirements. Register for the session here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/uber-information-session-bendigo-tickets-37268231283

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