The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce hosted Uber Senior Manager Michael van Hemmen Thursday afternoon for a keynote presentation detailing what the ridesharing service has to offer the city.
Based in Vancouver, van Hemmen helped pass Canada's first ridesharing regulations in Edmonton and is now working with the NDP government to do the same in B.C.
"Kelowna is the perfect type of city for ridesharing," said van Hemmen, who compared the Interior's largest city to Guelph, Ontario in terms of population and infrastructure.
Uber's growth and popularity in Onatrio and the greater Toronto area was used by the Uber Senior Manager as a prime example of ridesharing services being in demand by Canadians.
Mayor Colin Basran was in attendance for the presentation that happened to land on the same day Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver announced an investigative report on ridesharing for the province could be ready by February.
Van Hemmen stressed that Uber provides a more convenient door-to-door service than public transit; is faster and more efficient than taxi service; and is proven to decrease impaired driving in cities. Impaired driving is a major issue in Kelowna, which has the second highest rate of impaired drivers in Canada.
The Uber Senior Manager also came prepared with plenty of statistics that favour ride-sharing:
B.C. is the only province in Canada without Uber and Vancouver is the largest city in North America without the ridesharing service.
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