Uber rolls in, pledging safety, opportunity – for taxis only

Global ride-hailing giant Uber officially launched its ride-hailing service in Barbados on Tuesday night, promising a modernised transport experience for residents and visitors while positioning itself as a partner to the taxi industry rather than a rival.

Some 400 taxi operators have already signed up to the Uber Taxi platform which is to be operated solely by licensed taxis, an Uber official confirmed.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY following the launch at the Hilton Barbados Resort, Belén Romero, Uber’s regional general manager for the Andean, Central America and Caribbean region, said the company aimed to fill a key gap in the transport market.

“We’re very excited about being here and particularly about supporting and the tourism opportunity,” said Romero. “At Uber, as you know, we have about 1.9 million users and many of them travel internationally, and we hope to provide our users a fantastic experience wherever they go — and Barbados will now be one of those places.”

Romero added that Uber’s arrival was not just about serving tourists but also about providing local drivers and passengers with greater access to innovation, safety and earning opportunities.

“We’re also hoping to bring some of our safety features [and] our technology, to bring more opportunity to both the localised taxi drivers as well as tourists and local users,” she explained.

Addressing concerns from the taxi associations, which have indicated plans to launch their own ride-hailing app, Romero welcomed the move, insisting that competition was healthy for the market.

“At Uber we really value innovation, and we believe that competition really drives that innovation and ends up being improvements in the user experience,” she said.

Romero confirmed that Uber was in talks with The Barbados Police Service to strengthen its safety framework.

“We are in discussions to have that collaboration. As I mentioned, we have a global team of experts that work 24/7 supporting the local police in investigations whenever they request information,” she said. “In addition to that, regarding safety, which is something that’s truly important for us, we have more than 30 safety features so that we make sure that before, during, and after each trip, safety is at the core of everything we do.”

She noted that the Uber Taxi product in Barbados is designed to benefit registered taxi drivers, who can opt in to accept rides via the Uber platform.

“One of the benefits from our Uber Taxi product is first the earning opportunity,” she explained. “They have the opportunity to increase their earnings by, for example, improving their productivity. Let’s say, for example, that they’re going home — they can enroute themselves and say, ‘I’m going this way and I can take trips on this way,’ so that would give an additional trip opportunity that they may potentially not take if they weren’t using the app.”

Romero added that drivers would also gain access to Uber’s global network and enjoy greater flexibility in how they work.

“The second point is the access to our global user base, which is more than 149 million people that trust and use Uber,” she said. “Taxi drivers continuously tell us that they value the flexibility to decide when they take a street trip, when they take an online trip, when they go online, when they don’t, what type of trip they decide to take — so that flexibility and independence is something that they truly value. And finally, the safety — we have enhanced safety features including for the drivers, and 24/7 support for them.”

Uber’s entry into Barbados comes amid heightened debate within the transport industry, with traditional taxi operators calling for a level playing field and clear regulations governing the operation of ride-hailing platforms.

In addition to the ride-hailing platform, the company has launched Uber Hourly, where users can book rides by the length of time aimed at facilitating island tours, and Uber Reserve, where trips can be booked for as much as 90 days in advance.
(SZB)