Uber Fun

Courtesy of Uber

Sometimes part of the healing experience can be when someone does something out-of-the-blue unexpected and nice for you and you just sit back and enjoy it.  Besides, Resilient Readers, you are the best and I have to share with you how cool Uber is in case you want to try it too!

If you haven’t heard of Uber (www.uber.com), it’s an online transportation company that dispatches private drivers and cars.  Which means you can request an Uber car and driver anywhere at anytime on your iPhone or Android.  No cash changes hands because once you download your app and set up your account, everything, including tips, are charged to your credit card.

Uber may be more practical for business purposes, but I also could see it being convenient for trips to Dulles Airport or other city trips when you may want to treat yourself.  I’m thinking birthdays, anniversaries or holiday celebrations. Besides Washington, DC, Uber has been launched and is doing business in Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris, and Los Angeles, and the company is working on adding many more cities.

My experience with Uber was particularly nice because it was raining.  I could have walked a block to get to M Street, NW to hail a cab but the generous person I was meeting with told me that I didn’t need to go outside and hail a cab.  She could order me an Uber from where she was sitting.  After she made the request for the Uber she showed me the map on her phone and said that the Uber car would arrive in four minutes — which it did.

The driver was quiet, not talking or yelling on his phone like most DC taxidrivers.  He wasn’t eating and the radio wasn’t blasting music or a talk news station.  He took me right to my address, not somewhere near my address, and again, in the rain, got out of the driver’s seat and opened the car door to help me with my papers and bags.

I have a feeling Uber is going to do very well in Washington, DC.  According to a post on Uber’s website from Travis (no last name), Uber’s Co-founder & CEO, “In DC, we’ve seen more app opens pre-launch, what we call “eyeballs”, than any other city we’ve gone to.”

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