Uber, the “private” ride service that’s sweeping the nation, has added a number of downstate cities to its network: Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana and Aurora. Uber has been operating in Chicago since 2011.

Chris Taylor, Uber’s general manager for Illinois, said that Peoria is still in the company’s plans. “Peoria’s a great market and we’d like to be there. We’re still very interested in Peoria. We’re taking some steps with local government,” he said from his office in Chicago.

Uber, of course, is very interested in a lot of places. The service that sprung out of Silicon Valley in 2009 has grown rapidly — not just across 150 communities in North America — but in 54 countries around the world.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, Uber provides several levels of service from a limousine with professional driver to UberX, where “a private citizen in a private vehicle” provides rides to the public, said Taylor.

“UberX is about half the cost of a taxi in Chicago, while drivers make double the minimum wage,” he said of UberX drivers that get the larger share of an 80-20 split of revenue received.

Uber reported that 200 drivers have already passed the company’s local, state and federal background checks and are ready to hit the road as UberX drivers in the Illinois cities just added.

“It’s great to see Uber expanding to cities that need more transportation options,” said Gov. Bruce Rauner. “As the leading state for innovation, Illinois welcomes forward-thinking companies like Uber that know how to take a good idea and scale it to meet the demand in cities of all sizes,” he said.

John Franks, president of Peoria Yellow Checker Cab Corp., isn’t so sure. “I don’t have a problem with competition, but I want it on equal terms. There are insurance questions involved. As one of the most-heavily regulated industries, we just want a level playing field. Just because they call themselves a technology company doesn’t make it right,” he said.

Technology is at the heart of the Uber system. When a rider requests a ride through the free Uber smartphone app, he or she sees available cars on a map. The nearest driver is alerted of the ride request and is given the rider’s pick-up location. The rider then receives detailed information about the driver, including his or her first name, photo and Uber rating along with the vehicle’s make, model and license plate number.

When the rider reaches the destination, the cost for the ride is automatically billed through a seamless, cashless transaction.

Taylor offered no timetable on when Uber service might be expanded to Peoria.