The not-really-a-taxi-service taxi service Uber is disrupting status quo transportation and welcomed by planners and attendees.
Many cities are actively fighting Uber and similar transportation networks, such as Lyft, citing safety, insurance and taxation concerns. Minneapolis, however, officially legalized and began regulating Uber in July—just in time for MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC)—a move welcomed by attendees.
"It’s usually faster and cheaper," says John Chen (MPI Washington State Chapter), CEO of Geoteaming, in summarizing his attraction to the alternative transportation system that he’s been utilizing for more than a year, including in Minneapolis during WEC.
To get to an MPI Foundation event, Chen opened the Uber app on his phone and, "Oh my god, there was a driver right in the neighborhood!" he says.
Bill Voegeli (MPI Georgia Chapter), president of Association Insights, first learned about the service from his son six months ago and has since used it approximately 50 times.
"The best part is I just get out, walk away—the receipt is emailed to me," he says.
For Voegeli, the safety and honesty of Uber drivers hasn’t been an issue.
"The experience is consistently good," he says.
Introduced to the service more than a month ago, Kevin Iwamoto (MPI Northern California Chapter), vice president of industry strategy for Lanyon, has already used Uber more than a dozen times in almost as many cities. He cites being able to easily request a driver with very little lead time as a major benefit.
"Flexibility is a huge benefit," he says. "I would always choose Uber over a taxi."
Uber for Business, launched in late July, should entice more traveling professionals by allowing them to bill rides directly to a shared business account.
"From a corporate procurement perspective, the ability to centralize and consolidate transactions under one vendor doesn’t just streamline the experience for the employees on the ground who need rides between meetings, flights and offices, but it eliminates the time-consuming expense-report process by billing the company directly, and allows more transparency and visibility into the company’s spend on ground transport," Iwamoto says.
"Frankly, the transparency around fares charged should be a welcome benefit to corporations."
Despite his positive experience with Uber, Iwamoto brings up a hot topic as these new transportation network businesses garner increasing attention: risk management.
"There is always risk whenever you incorporate new suppliers or processes into a corporate travel or meetings program," he says. "So there is going to be a question of consistency among the drivers both in terms of safety and service levels. Having said that, the issue is not insurmountable and I would recommend that any company wishing to incorporate Uber into their travel [and] meetings programs consult internally with their legal and HR departments to at least understand the gap and try to resolve it proactively whether it be enhancing their existing employee scope of coverage or including language in their current policies to cover the situation."
Liz King, CEO of Liz King Events, acknowledges that Uber probably isn’t suitable for every occasion, but she has used the service more than 100 times in the past 18 months—and she’s partnered with Uber for several events.
"They’re so open to partnering—and very easy to partner with," she says.
"They give us promo codes to share with attendees. It’s really great to coordinate pickups for speakers or clients."
Despite the glowing reviews and the benefits elucidated here by meeting professionals, King says surprisingly she hasn’t heard much about Uber from the meeting and event industry community. That changes now.
