It’s a first for Saskatoon, for Saskatchewan and for the ride sharing company Uber.
UberX is now available in Saskatoon, the first ride sharing service for the City and for the province, and it’s the first city that Uber has had where there is a government-run auto insurance system.
Michael van Hemmen, Uber business manager for western Canada, hopes this will pave the way for other cities.
He says SGI was able to prove that you can have public auto insurance and ride sharing.
Joe Hargrave, Minister responsible for SGI, took the first ride.
He feels having another transportation option will help in the battle against impaired driving.
Van Hemmen says they have dozens of drivers in Saskatoon, but wouldn’t get more specific.
To become a driver you need to provide a drivers licence, consent for a background check, a vehicle inspection and a criminal record check from Saskatoon Police.
He explains that their blanket auto-insurance program program provides insurance for every ridesharing trip, which means drivers using their own vehicles won’t need to add more insurance.