Uber hints it will look into Mildura service

MILDURA could be one step closer to getting a popular ride-sharing service.

Sunraysia radio breakfast duo Amy Hegedus and Dave Anderson created a Change.org petition last month in the hopes of attracting Uber to Mildura.

The HitFM pair created the petition after Ola bypassed Mildura, creating a ride-sharing service in Horsham instead.

Hegedus and Anderson were aiming to get more than 600 signatures on their petition before presenting it to Uber.

The pair was successful and on Tuesday spoke to Uber ANZ general manager Dom Taylor.

“Dom has confirmed that they will be shinning a spotlight on border towns in the next six months with the view to launch into as many as they can,” Hegedus said.

“He said one of the big things for them to look at in any area is how many people are willing to be drivers. If they see that there’s a lot of interest from drivers they’re more likely to look at those towns first.”

Mr Taylor said the petition started by Hegedus and Anderson, and their on-air advocacy, definitely indicated there was strong support for Uber to arrive in Mildura.

“Off the back of their efforts I’ve tasked my team with looking at towns like Mildura and other towns along the Victorian border,” he said.

Currently Uber is focused on rolling out its services in regional New South Wales.

Hegedus said the regional NSW roll out could still benefit Mildura if there were people across the river keen to be drivers.

“If you’re going to the Gol Gol pub with your mates and there’s an Uber driver around you will be able to to take that back (to Mildura),” she said.

“So even though we haven’t been able to get confirmation yet that it is going to be physically launch in Mildura there is still an opportunity for people to be able to take advantage of the service.”