It looks like Uber, the black car service you can reserve from your smartphone, may be coming to Omaha.
While Omaha isn’t listed on the official site yet, an @Uber_Omaha Twitter account appeared on Friday. The description mimics that of the @Uber_Indy and appears to be run by the same person.
The wildly popular service has made waves in the transportation industry in New York City, San Francisco and other major cities.
Silicon Prairie News reached out to Uber officials for confirmation and more information, but has not yet received an official comment.
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The news broke on Twitter Friday when the newly-created account tweeted at a months-old Twitter conversation saying an Uber-like service in Omaha “won’t get there for another 20yrs!!” Uber responded with snark:
Anyone know of any car service that’s similar to Uber in Omaha NE ?
— Shaun Pitbull Prater (@Shaun_Prater) February 13, 2014
@ueshawk @Shaun_Prater Or will we…. 🙂
— Uber_Omaha (@Uber_Omaha) April 4, 2014
Launched in 2009, Uber is now in 44 cities around the U.S. and 35 countries around the world. Chicago is the closest city to Omaha to currently have Uber.
It doesn’t hurt that Uber’s leadership is familiar with the Midwest. Ryan Graves, head of global operations for Uber, spoke at Thinc Iowa in 2012 and co-founder Travis Kalanick spoke at Big Omaha in 2011.
Uber landed a $258 million investment from Google Ventures last August.
“We’re changing the way people are getting around by offering a convenient, cashless and stylish on demand car request service from your mobile phone,” Uber’s Facebook page says.
Omaha’s only similar service is NexTaxi, an app that integrates with Omaha’s cab companies and allows users to request a cab, track it until it arrives and pay, all from the app.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to Silicon Prairie News for updates.
