Uber car-hiring service coming to Baltimore, as UberTAXI in NYC is shut down

Uber is bound for Baltimore.
Word spread when the San Francisco-based company posted a job opening for an “Associate General Manager” for Baltimore. (Tip of the hat to the Baltimore Sun for linking to the job opening.) The manager for Baltimore will be based out of Washington, D.C., as Uber experiments with “running a city remotely.”

Uber’s service allows users to hire private cars and limousines and handle paying for the rides through a mobile app linked to a credit card. While Uber has enjoyed success in the 21 cities where its now available, problems with the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission has forced the company to shut down its UberTAXI service in that city, according to The Verge:

Uber has operated black cars, which are reserved in advance, with the TLC’s blessing. But by adding yellow cabs, which by New York City law are only allowed to pick up street hails, Uber opened itself up to a bunch of additional regulations. From tipping restrictions to the prohibition against cabbies using cellphones, there were plenty of little rules to potentially get Uber Taxi and its drivers into trouble. When the TLC expressed concerns in the eleventh hour, Uber decided to launch anyway.
The TLC didn’t bend. Three days after the launch of Uber Taxi, the agency announced that drivers who accepted payments through Uber could be fined, or worse, lose their licenses, which spooked drivers. [more]

Uber confirmed the information on its blog, writing: “New York City’s TLC will hopefully get things moving, and let UberTAXI back out in the wild next year. In the meantime you can try UberTAXI in more innovation-friendly cities — including Boston and Toronto on the east coast  — and as always, New York is still rocking with Uber Black and our low-cost UberX offering.”
Uber launched in Philadelphia earlier this year.