VIDEO: Uber Comes to The Golden Triangle

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The word is out; Uber is now in the Golden Triangle.

The service started last week in Starkville, and some citizens are excited to see it in the college town.

However, There are some concerns to this business process.

Uber has been booming across the country, and the Golden Triangle is trying to keep up with this latest travel trend.

But how does this affect taxi companies who have been here for a while and what makes you so sure that the driver you get is safe?

Drivers at Bulldog Cab have been serving the community for over a decade, providing their services to The Golden Triangle.

There’s a long process to become one of these drivers.

“They have to have a license, and they have to be inspected and licensed and then properly qualified on a periodic basis. They have to provide the insurance in part of their qualifications and part of their licensing,” said State Farm Insurance Agent Jack Forbus.

For Uber drivers, the application process is much easier.

From an insurance perspective, however, once that Uber driver goes on duty, the personal car turns into a commercial vehicle, and they lose their liability insurance.

“They are not taxi drivers. In some cases, we assume they have insurance and we assume they have a drivers license and we assume that they have a clean record, but we don’t know,” continued Forbus.

Despite these risks, people are still excited that Uber has come to the area.

“I’m very excited about Uber coming to Starkville. Just one click, basically, and you’re on your way to where you need to go. Don’t have to worry about anybody picking you up because you can just Uber right back,” said Chris Tann Thomas, a Starkville resident.

Local cab services were not able to go on camera, but they did tell me that with the influx of students at Mississippi State and the overall growth in Starkville they don’t think that this will take too much of their business.

Even if Uber were to be the dominate service in the area, Bulldog cab drivers have been known to broaden their trip range by going to places like Memphis, Meridian, and in some cases even Florida.

Uber started with only two drivers in Starkville.

We don’t know how many have applied to add to the driver list.