Ride-Sharing, eHailing Apps Compete At SXSW

By PYMNTS | March 10, 2013

Ride-sharing and eHailing services Uber, Lyft, and SideCar are all making headlines through various offering and promotions at South By Southwest.

Uber has made its UBERx service available for the first time in Austin, Texas for the event. The rides will need to be free in order to prevent violating Austin’s city ordinance, notes TechCrunch.

SideCar is also offering free rides as it aims to make Austin among its primary expansion markets. The company is currently engaging in a lawsuit against Austin’s Department of Transportation, arguing that it is a technology company, not at transportation company, and should be allowed to offer its regular services.

Lyft has taken an interesting approach to SXSW, hiring 20 “ride-givers” to give attendees piggy-back rides around the conference. Users can request a piggy-back ride within the Lyft app, notes VentureBeat.

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