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The newest ride in Uber's Boston fleet

Posted by Scott Kirsner November 5, 2012 09:55 AM
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By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist

My curiosity was piqued this weekend when I saw entrepreneur (and Harvard College senior) Peter Boyce tweet about getting a ride in a Porsche, using the transportation app Uber. "Lucky to have taken the first @Uber_BOS @Porsche tonight | Gotta love this service," he wrote.

Was that a joke? Most Uber cars I've ridden in in Boston have been black Cadillacs, Lincolns, and other comfy-but-nondescript sedans.

I called up Uber Boston general manager Michael Pao this morning, and he confirmed that, yes, a livery driver had signed up to be part of Uber's virtual fleet last week, with a black Porsche Cayenne. (Pao told me the driver's name is Adam, but didn't have his last name readily available.)

He sent the pic below as evidence, and told me that the Porsche shows up as a normal black car on the Uber app, at normal black car rates. You can't make a special request, in other words — you just get lucky. Pao also mentioned that a driver with a Mercedes GL 550 would soon start roaming the streets of Boston, and said that as more of these high-end cars hit the road with Uber, the company might create a separate class for them — right now, the two options are "black" or "taxi" — and charge higher rates.

Are you feeling lucky, Uber riders?

uberporsche.png

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About Scott Kirsner Scott Kirsner was part of the team that launched Boston.com in 1995, and has been writing a column for the Globe since 2000. His work has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, and Variety. Scott is also the author of the books "Fans, Friends & Followers" and "Inventing the Movies," was the editor of "The Convergence Guide: Life Sciences in New England," and was a contributor to "The Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston." Scott also helps organize several local events on entrepreneurship, including the Nantucket Conference and Future Forward. Here's some background on how Scott decides what to cover, and how to pitch him a story idea.

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