Uber Tuscaloosa

Uber, a ride-sharing service powered by a mobile app, announced its launch in Tuscaloosa and Auburn Thursday morning. (Uber)

(Uber)

By Jared Downing

The question was, "Why can't I get a taxi in this town? I mean, a real taxi, no offense."

None was taken. I would have been happy to pedal the intoxicated Florida fan home in my pedicab if I could. He had seen a handful of chauffeur companies listed online and then ended up lost and bewildered at the end of the night. The cab he called was a no-show and the rickshaw guy wouldn't accept everything in his wallet ($74 and a crumpled Taco Casa coupon) to pedal him to the Ramada Inn on Skyland.

He wasn't the first: The night's requests had already included an impound lot on Jug Factory road and the police headquarters to bail someone out of jail.

I recommended he try Uber. "I did," he mumbled. "'No rides in your area.'"

This was, I would learn, when police had started cracking down on drivers for the app-based ride-share service, leaving the night's castaways to find one of the precious few legitimate cabs.

As for the Florida fan's taxi, someone had probably lied to the driver and stolen the reservation.

In Tuscaloosa, business comes in short, high-yield windows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, which is splendid for the handful of independent operators and small companies (we could cart marooned weekenders until the sun came up if we wanted to), but lousy for the kind of large outfit that could actually fill the city's need.

Enter Uber, an elegant, low-overhead operation that lets anyone with reliable wheels and a clean record to get a piece of the action. It's simple, it's cheap, and since the system has its digital eyes on everything, it's safe.

Opponents argue that the California upstart is a threat to legitimate local business, and they are correct, but only because Uber has the potential to get everyone safely home, while our dear local cabbies (myself included) thrive when things are dismal.

Yet I don't suspect last week's breakdown of negotiations with the company was Mayor Maddox's fault. The city's terms, which included vehicle inspections, chauffeur licenses and background checks, were reasonable, and frankly Uber spokesperson Billy Guernier's attitude of businessman-versus-bumpkins made him sound like a jerk.

But more frustrating was that he was right: Tuscaloosa needs Uber more than Uber needs Tuscaloosa. We shouldn't roll over for any Silicon Valley jerks, but we should go out of our way to make things easier if one of Uber's competitors (the big one is called Lyft) shows up, perhaps with a special license and a streamlined online application.

Or for that matter, why not launch a new service of our very own? The University already runs dozens of complex homegrown apps; a public cloud-based ride-share service would be simple, easy to regulate and might make a little coin besides.

As for my rickshaw business, I'll suffer a little competition. Let me put it this way: It's tough to grasp the infestation of drunk drivers on Tuscaloosa streets until you've heard one approaching 55mph in the small hours of the morning.

First I pray the driver doesn't forget to swerve. Then, when they've sped off into the night, I pray for more taxi cabs.