This car for hire

As an alternative to taxis, real time ride-sharing is trendy enough to be satirized on South Park and to spawn its own series featuring Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen of Portlandia.

But there is no ride-sharing in the real city of Portland, Ore., after the city sued Uber, the investor-valued $41 billion Goliath of the industry, for launching there in December without the city's permission. About a week later, the court ordered Uber to cease operations until Portland establishes regulations.

This story is familiar to Little Rock's Board of Directors, since Uber launched Nov. 6, despite its objections. (Uber did the same in Fayetteville in September, resulting in driver tickets.) The Little Rock board considered issuing an injunction to stop Uber but ultimately allowed the service to stay. On Nov. 18, Little Rock passed governing ordinances -- among them, that all drivers must register for permits. As of Jan. 14, there were 26 registered drivers.

One of Little Rock's first drivers, Peggy Nakamoto, learned of Uber last summer on a trip to New York, when a hotel concierge recommended she "Uber" to the airport.

Uber drivers are at least 21 and use their own cars (2008 or newer, with no body damage), and Nakamoto's ride was impressive.

"He gave my granddaughter a bottle of water, some gum, drove up in his nice Camry, spoke English. I didn't have that annoying ticker going click-click-click, when you only have so much cash on you ... you're just so nervous in a taxi," the 57-year-old schoolteacher says.

Uber is a cashless transaction, since a user enters a credit card once, upon registration. Tipping is officially discouraged, although drivers do accept tips. (Local driver Whitman Bransford was tipped $20 on a $10 ride.)

UBER DOES WHAT IT WANTS

When Nakamoto returned to Little Rock, she researched Uber and learned it was in negotiations with the city and seeking Little Rock drivers. She sent Uber pictures of her license and insurance and was cleared to drive, weeks before the service started.

In November, Nakamoto began recruiting other drivers -- her adult children, teachers at her elementary school, her friends. Altogether, she persuaded five drivers to join and received $300 bonuses for each of them. (After the holidays, the new driver bonuses dropped to $100.)

Nakamoto drives a 2014 Prius station wagon. She gets gas weekly at about $20 a tank (before Uber, she filled up monthly) and estimates that she makes about $500 from 20 hours of work, after Uber's 20 percent fare-share.

"I'm not afraid of somebody with their smartphone, their locations services on, their debit card connected the whole time, doing something to me in my car," she told friends who voiced safety concerns.

She has her favorite rides: the night she picked up guests from a grand house party that Hillary and Bill Clinton had attended and the high-school kids she took for pizza.

"They were so excited. They talked the whole time, controlled the radio with Spotify on their phones," she says.

But there are bad stories, too.

"These boys that I picked up from a very nice house ... they got in my car and I heard them open something," Nakamoto says. "The people who got in my car after them were like, 'There's four empty beer cans in your backseat.'"

Part-time bartender Bransford, 27, says he nearly kicked out a group of drunken passengers who spilled take-out in his back seat. And during the recent Garth Brooks concerts, eight people piled in his Subaru Outback without asking.

After each ride, passengers and drivers rate each other. According to drivers, if they rate below a 4.5, Uber may block their access to the app. (Uber riders download the app, order a ride from a smartphone, are sent the make of the vehicle and a photo of their driver and watch the car approach onscreen, in real time.)

Bransford's rating dropped slightly after he took a woman with an accent and a hijab to the airport.

He asked where she was from (she didn't want to tell him) and missed the airport exit. The alternate route struck the woman as disturbingly remote. To reassure her, Bransford stopped the mileage counter and sped up, causing her to exclaim, "Please slow down!"

She relaxed once the airport was in sight, but she didn't relax enough to give Bransford a five-star rating.

These situations are bad, but some stories are much worse.

THE DARK SIDE OF UBER

In its five years, Uber has expanded to 53 countries and fielded numerous public relations disasters. In December 2013, a driver from the company's home city of San Francisco struck and killed a 6-year-old in a crosswalk. Another driver attacked a passenger with a hammer, and a third driver, accused of attacking a passenger, was discovered to have a felony conviction despite passing Uber's background check.

There have been other reported attacks (at least one driver said passengers beat him) and allegations of kidnapping and sexual assault by Uber drivers, who in some cities fall under more lax regulations than cab drivers. In France, Uber tried a "hot chick drivers" promotion that ended abruptly in wake of press outrage.

Uber practices surge pricing -- raising prices when demand is high (one of Nakamoto's New Year's Eve runs cost $120, when it normally would have cost $20), even in situations of terrorism (as demonstrated during the recent hostage siege in Sydney, Australia) or natural disaster (2012's Hurricane Sandy).

The company is embroiled in court cases in cities across Canada and has been banned in at least three countries, as well as in New Delhi (following rape allegations against a driver) and in Nevada.

And Uber executives tend to say regrettable things in the presence of reporters. At a party, senior vice president Emil Michael told guests that the company should secretly investigate critical journalists and publish unflattering details about them. He specifically named Sarah Lacey, founder of the tech blog PandoDaily, who has reported, among other things, that Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick calls the company "Boober" because it helps him land women.

A Google search returns pages of complaints from drivers who say they're not making enough to offset the wear-and-tear on their vehicles. But Little Rock drivers seem happy with Uber, although Bransford is confused on one point: "Essentially, every week they've paid about 45 percent of the fares I've made, and they've only taken 20 percent. How are they making money on this?"

This is because Uber offers "guarantees" of anywhere from $15 to $22 an hour to drivers who stay logged in and accept at least one ride every two hours. This means that if a driver's fares aren't adding up, as in Bransford's case, Uber will pay the difference.

LOCAL OPINION

Jake Keet, 29, has only taken Uber a few times -- once when he found himself in a sketchy part of Dallas at night and twice in Little Rock because, as he puts it, "Uber is a lot cheaper than a DUI."

He likes Uber because, through manually entering starting and destination addresses, "You know what you're going to pay before you get in."

On New Year's Eve, Nakamoto's rating dropped from 4.98 to 4.88, which she believes is a direct result of surge pricing -- something drivers have no control over. Bransford felt so bad about one New Year's fare that he offered the rider future free rides.

Thus far, Bransford has made about $2,000 in 100 rides. To do well an Uber driver has to be systematic. Bransford and Nakamoto keep their own records.

On weekdays Nakamoto wakes early. Once she's ready for work, she logs in, hoping to catch someone from west Little Rock, where she lives, seeking a lift to the airport. Because the airport is near Nakamoto's school, this is an easy way for her to pick up cash. She turns the app on again for her drive home. Even if she doesn't get a fare, the miles are tax-deductible.

Bransford says he has driven a renowned surgeon who stumbled into the Subaru, Solo cup in hand, and seen bigger houses than he thought Little Rock had, in neighborhoods he didn't know existed.

"It's like the cliche Forrest Gump thing. Uber's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get," he says. Then he laughs. "I've been telling people that. It's not really that funny."

THE SAMPLER

Near 1 a.m. on a recent weekend night, an (anonymous, to avoid corporate repercussions) Uber driver is summoned to a house in Hillcrest. When he arrives, his passengers ask him to wait while they "chug their beers." He sits in the driveway for 10 minutes. If he starts the clock (he doesn't), it would cost the group 20 cents a minute.

On the way to another fare, he passes a Volkswagen Beetle near Allsopp Park, unscathed but curiously positioned at the edge of the road, inches from drop-off. Its driver (possibly inebriated) must have abandoned the car, after nearly plunging down the hill.

"Someone should have called Uber," the Uber driver says.

Then a 30-something in a suit slides into the Uber car and, cup in hand, proceeds to slur nonstop for 20 minutes (though the ride only takes 10), talking about how "Uber is the best thing that happened to Little Rock" because "the cab companies got lazy."

He says he has awakened cabbies midride, and that "There's B.O., right, then there's I have not showered for two or three years." And, on his worst cab ride ever, he and three friends were picked up from the airport and charged the full meter price for each individual drop-off; so the driver collected $20 from the downtown passenger and $37 from the Riverdale passenger, etc. (In fairness to local cab drivers, remember these are the unverified ramblings of an anonymous drunk.)

When the man finally leaves the car, the driver recalls the last time he picked up this passenger. That night, the passenger and a friend offered to buy the driver a beer at Midtown Billiards if he waited while they scarfed a burger.

The next run is less vitriolic. An attractive couple wait on the stoop, keeping warm by making out.

They situate themselves in the backseat, and the woman chirps "hello" and gives directions.

They seem long-term -- comfortable enough that, when the driver offers the man a first-time free-ride code (the woman booked this ride), the woman answers for him: "We're good."

Then she says, "So turn here, and go all the way down the street ... see those lights? That's us."

The house has a patio decked in fairy lights.

"That's pretty. That's your house? Really?" the man says, suddenly sounding over-eager.

That's when things become clear. This woman and man are about to spend their first night together, and the Uber driver gets to bear witness.

Style on 01/20/2015