Uride hits 100,000 rides on 1st anniversary in Kelowna

Kelowna loves Uride's ride-hailing service.

As the rideshare company celebrates its first anniversary in the city, Uride has hit the milestone of more than 100,000 rides.

100,000 divided by 365 days in a year equals 273 people a day hailing Uride on its app for safe, reliable, quick and affordable rides.

"The people of Kelowna have embraced our service and we're so happy to be here," said Uride founder and CEO Cody Ruberto.

"We also have an amazing group of drivers who have all stepped up to help give the community the level of transportation it deserves."

Uride launched in Ruberto's hometown of Thunder Bay in 2017 and has given a total of over one million rides since then and expanded to 13 other cities -- Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Vernon, Prince George, North Bay, Chatham, Belleville, Sudbury, Timmins, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie and Prince Edward County.

Uride will soon be launching in Penticton, Victoria, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie.

The concept of Uride is to open in smaller cities that don't have Uber and Lyft and are underserved by cabs and public transit.

"We started Uride to prevent impaired driving and get people around safely," said Ruberto.

"It's incredible to see that people can now get picked up in under 10 minutes."

Yes, that's another part of the Uride promise -- to have enough drivers so people wait as little as possible, thus making the company the go-to ride-hailing app for a loyal bunch of customers.

Uride also touts costing 20% to 40% less than a traditional taxi, maybe even more for trips to the airport.

While payment for a Uride is handled by the app linked to your credit card, there's also the option to tip your driver.

In the year Uride has been in operation in Kelowna, riders in the city have earned the title of the biggest tippers in Canada.

However, Uride did not specify what the average tip is in Kelowna and how exactly that compares to other cities.

Uride also shared a life-saving story on the company's first anniversary in the city.

Two Uride passengers spotted a man in distress in Okanagan Lake and alerted their driver to pull over so they could help rescue him from drowning.