Hurricane Hysteria Could Be Uber’s Chance to Get Noticed In New York

Adrianne Jeffries — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:12:49 -0400

With talk of the city's mass transit being shut down, Betabeat wondered if we'd even be able to get a cab. Then it hit us--this could be Uber's moment. New Yorkers are set it in their ways when it comes to navigating the grid--most residents have a working knowledge of the quickest routes, which are usually trains, and if not it's easy enough to grab a yellow cab or a black car if it's Saturday or you're in Bushwick or something. So Uber's spendy private cab delivery service has been buoyed mostly by SF-NYC frequent fliers, and ignored by the large majority of New Yorkers. Like, who needs it?

Solution, meet problem. If the cabbies stay home this weekend and Mayor Bloomberg kills our trains and buses, this hurricane could be Uber's hour. We asked Uber's New York team if they planned to keep the service up over the windy weekend. "Indeed there will be Uber. We're monitoring weather conditions closely for flooding, as this will impact service," Uber said via Twitter.

The service won't be offered everywhere, however. The start-up will be updating customers via Twitter. Make a note: the account has 1,017 followers. We'll see where it stands after the storm.

Betabeat » Hurricane Hysteria Could Be Uber’s Chance to Get Noticed In New York

Hurricane Hysteria Could Be Uber’s Chance to Get Noticed In New York