Solving a slightly complicated issue involving the state line, Uber has announced it will officially be launching in the Lake Tahoe area, north and south, before the new year. The news comes as local ski fanatics are gearing up for what's supposed to be an especially good ski season after at least three bad ones.
As the Associated Press reports via the Reno Gazette-Journal, the company only recently struck an agreement with the state of Nevada to operate on that side of the state line, something they had not been able to do previously which would have made it difficult in both the areas of South and North Lake, where passengers potential destinations could fall on either side of the state line. Under the new rules, drivers will be able to drop off fares on either side of the line, but must only pick up fares in their own state of origin.
Uber is hosting an "onboarding" event this week for new drivers at Squaw.
In other Uber news, the company released the results of a nationwide survey of its drivers a fleet now 400,000 strong in the U.S. and though it did not get into details about drivers' weekly earnings or car-related expenses, it did highlight some interesting demographic info. As the Chronicle reports, 81 percent of drivers said they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with working for the company, and one purpose of the survey seems to be to reinforce the idea that its drivers are not full-time employees something that a court has yet to weigh in on in California.
97 percent of drivers said they were satisfied with the flexibility of driving for Uber, and CEO Joel Benenson gave a statement, saying, “It’s clear from the data that drivers place immense value on the flexibility Uber gives them to go to school, earn extra income, be with their families and do other things with some extra money in their pockets.”
Interestingly, the number of female drivers seems to be rising quickly, with 19 percent of survey respondents being female, up from 14 percent last year and the company says that almost a third of new drivers in the last three months have been women.
The survey interviewed 833 drivers in 24 large cities, mostly UberX drivers but some black car drivers, and it also found that 69 percent of drivers report doing some other work besides working for Uber, bolstering the company's case that they are not employees.
