Ride-hailing service Uber launched local service Tuesday with a publicity event at Texarkana College.
Texas House Rep. Gary VanDeaver was on hand to take a ceremonial first ride, and the company announced a discount offer for Texarkana customers.
To take advantage of a one-time discount up to $15, customers can use promo code TEXARKANA when ordering a ride.
Driving a polished, black Lincoln sedan, Robinea Elijah picked up VanDeaver at curbside for Texarkana's first official Uber ride. Elijah is a retiree new to driving for the company.
"I like the concept," she said.
Uber connects independent drivers who set their own work schedules with riders through the company's smartphone app.
Drivers use their personal vehicles, customers pay for rides digitally, and the company keeps a portion of each fare.
The company has been recruiting drivers here for several weeks and has enough ready to meet its wait-time goal of 5 to 10 minutes, said Chris Miller, Uber's public policy manager for Texas.
Michael Lybarger, an apartment building manager from New Boston, Texas, said he signed up as a driver three weeks ago and was looking forward to making some extra money. His best friend makes $3,000 a week as a full-time Uber driver in Dallas, and Lybarger hopes to make $300 a week driving part-time here, he said.
VanDeaver praised Uber as a valuable addition to the local economy, a safe alternative to driving drunk and a convenience for elderly people who have lost the ability to drive.
By providing one statewide regulation, a recently passed law VanDeaver co-authored made it possible for Uber and similar companies to expand into smaller Texas cities. It was important to ensure transportation network companies, or TNCs, would be safe while avoiding overregulation, he said.
To operate in Texas a transportation network companies, or TNC, must obtain a permit from the state Department of Licensing and Regulation and pay a $5,000 annual fee. The law also requires criminal background checks for TNC drivers and prohibits any regulation at the local level.
To operate in Texarkana, where frequent crossing of the state line is inevitable, Uber will reconcile any discrepancies between Arkansas and Texas regulations by complying with the stricter of the two.
That means any Uber driver in Texarkana will be required to get a vehicle safety inspection within 90 days of beginning work, external affairs executive Leandre Johns said in a previous interview.
Uber will launch service in other East Texas cities such as Nacogdoches and Lufkin this week, as well, Miller said.
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