Twitter Wars: City of Eugene vs. Uber

The ongoing battle between car sharing service Uber and the city of Eugene has taken to social media. Let the Twitter wars begin!

Uber has launched an online petition asking Eugene to back down on its stance that the ride service must obtain the same $400 permits local taxi companies have. It is using the hashtag #EugeneNeedsUber.

Eugene is responding with #EugeneDeservesSafety and tweeted back at the petition that Uber could “Or you could just agree to City driver checks, insurance reqs, & car safety checks. Not hard.”

Snark from a city Twitter feed? #winning.

In the R-G’s story today, which also gives some background on the Uber-dispute over the regulations, it says the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the petition, but the city is commenting now.

The city responded to the criticism that Eugene’s “old regs” are a “big problem” with  Actually, updated code for apps & offered to do more once Uber agrees to safety reqs – driver checks, insurance, & car checks.”

We’re hoping the city keeps tagging us on its responses throughout the day. You can follow the tweets at the city’s feed here.