Uber rolls into Rotorua, taxi companies not worried

Kamiria Clark planned to be ready in her car at 3pm for her first Rotorua ride to pop up. Photo / Caroline Fleming

Rotorua Uber drivers will take the wheel and possibly the hearts of the community today as the ridesharing giant launches the service in the city.

But local taxi drivers are not worried.

Rotorua is one of six new cities in this country that the San Francisco-based company will be operating in from today.

The ride-sharing giant launches at 3pm, with some drivers eagerly awaiting their first Rotorua passenger.

One of those was Tauranga local Kamiria Clark, who was out on the streets from 6am today to spread the word about the big day.

Clark used to be a truck driver before her children pleaded she take up a new career that would give her more time with them.

Clark has been driving with Uber in Tauranga for 10 months, but since hearing they were coming to Rotorua, she thought it would be a good way to expand her ride pool, she said.

Kamiria Clark has been driving Uber for 10 months in Tauranga. Photo / Caroline Fleming

Her favourite part of the job was knowing she was getting people home safely, as well as the great conversation. After years of sitting alone in a truck, it was a nice change, she said.

Uber was becoming quite the family affair for Clark, with her partner also a driver and her 21-year-old son preparing to get into the industry.

Clark planned to be ready in her car at 3pm for her first Rotorua ride to pop up, she said.

Some would expect local taxi drivers to be shivering in their boots on launch day, but that was far from the case.

Rotorua Taxi Society chairman George Melrose said he was "not worried at all" because he was fairly certain none of his drivers would jump ship.

He said they had a meeting when Uber was first announced, where it was made clear that if any of the drivers did try both - they would lose their job with the Taxi Society.

Rotorua Taxi Society chairman George Melrose was not worried about the new service coming to town. Photo / File

Anyone can be an Uber driver, whereas his drivers were all trained in first aid among other qualifications, he said.

The company currently offered a 24-hour service five days a week, which Melrose said would be dropped if Uber began to take over.

He said it did not think that the ridesharing giant would do well here.

However, Uber New Zealand's country manager Amanda Gilmore said from their research, demand for the app was ever-increasing in the city.

She said Uber had tracked thousands of people opening the app in Rotorua looking for a ride, which was not surprising because it was a "growing hub of tourism" and had an increasing population.

She said the number of drivers would be small at the beginning, but as the word got out, there would be a good portion by summer.

The ridesharing giant chose to move into regional operations because they believed there were limited transport options and they could complement existing modes, she said.

Uber already operates in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin, after launching in New Zealand in May 2014.