The car taxi service Uber is pushing further into the suburbs.
An Uber driver set up shop under a tent at a Silver Diner restaurant on Smoketown Road in Woodbridge on Tuesday to recruit new drivers. In exchange for signing up to drive for Uber, the company agreed to give new recruits a $50 gas card.
The taxi service relies on the Uber smartphone app that allows users to see which Uber drivers are close by, hail them for a ride, and then use the app to conduct a cashless transaction to pay their fare. The company charges about a dollar per mile, so a fare from Woodbridge to the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station costs about $20.
Uber is popular in more urban areas such as Washington, D.C. and Arlington. The company wants more people in Woodbridge and other exurbs of Washington to drive for the service in hopes more customers will choose to use Uber.
The company actively recruits drivers by allowing them to drive on their own time, set their own hours, advertising the job as a great way to make extra income outside their regular job.
Cab companies have argued Uber drivers aren’t regulated like their drivers, and that the company has an unfair advantage. New legislation signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe now requires Uber drivers, and drivers at its counterpart Lyft, to be at least 21 years old, undergo a background check, and have up to $1 million in insurance in order to drive.
