Uber has launched its services in South Australia as another state has welcomed ride-sharing.
The move into South Australia now sees Uber offered in a majority of Australian states as only Tasmania and Northern Territory remain without a presence from the ride-sharing company.
South Australia legalised ride-sharing earlier this year but Uber remained on the sidelines in the state until this weekend.
The business took to the streets of the state with an offer of free trips in Adelaide and Tom White, general manager of Uber in South Australia, told the
ABC that the company would keep free rides for “an indefinite period,” to show the lack of need for red tape.
"As the only mainland state not to have tried the service we wanted to ensure everyone had the chance to make their own minds up about what the future of transportation in Adelaide should look like," White said.
"We have always been very passionate about providing ride-sharing technology to Adelaide. It's always been our intention, our hope, our ambition to bring the technology to Adelaide because we think it is long overdue.
"What we're doing is demonstrating that those benefits can be opened up to the community without there being burdensome and costly process involved."
Previously, the company had said that it
approach the state with “caution” but Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan told the
ABC that the company did not want to be left behind.
"We were pretty confident that what we saw last week from Uber was just a bit of chest pumping and trying to put some pressure on Government to reduce some requirements for drivers whether it is police checks of vehicle inspections," Mullighan said.
South Australia joins
the ACT and
New South Wales as the only states to legalise the service.
