Uber Aims to Create 20,000 Jobs and Serve 2 More Mexican Cities

laht.com

MEXICO CITY – The transport company Uber plans to create up to 20,000 new jobs and serve another two cities in Mexico, the U.S. firm’s communications director for Latin America, Ana Paula Blanco, told Efe.

“We have plans to expand to two more cities but I can’t offer more details,” Blanco said in an interview with Efe, adding that in Mexico the company has its “largest operation in all Latin America and one of the most important for Uber internationally.”

Blanco recalled that “Uber’s advantage is that you can get a private driver who is within a maximum of five minutes from where you are,” and said that in Mexico, where it currently operates in Mexico City, Tijuana, Guadalajara and Monterrey, the firm has “expectations of creating between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs.”

People mostly use this service to go out at night, so they can drink alcohol and not have to drive home, and also because several people can share the fare, she said.

Besides Mexico, Uber also operates in Panama, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil.

The firm recently formed an alliance with the telephone company of Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, America Movil, that brings its app, which allows users to order a car on their smartphones, to new Latin American customers.

But as in other parts of the world, Uber in Latin America has come up against resistance from drivers, companies and unions of traditional taxis because it is not regulated.

The group Organized Taxi-Drivers of Mexico City last December filed a complaint against the capital’s Mobility Secretary Rufino Leon Tovar for allowing Uber to operated unregulated.

In Colombia, where it has operated since 2013 in Bogota and Cali, the transport minister warned last November that the service is illegal and is being investigated due to protests by traditional taxi-drivers.

“We’re cooperating with the authorities. But we are convinced that we must have more talks,” Blanco said about that case, observing that Uber “is not a service that goes against taxis – it’s not an option instead of, it’s an additional choice for users.”