If you're looking for an easy way to earn a little extra cash, the city of Sioux Falls just did you a solid earlier this week.

On Monday, November 2, 2015 the Sioux Falls City Council approved new rules that allow ride-sharing companies like Uber to begin operating in the city.

Uber is a ride-sharing service based in San Francisco. The company uses a smartphone application to connect passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire.

If you're interested in becoming an Uber driver, there are a few requirements; you must be at least 21 years old with a valid drivers license, go through a simple sign-up process, have a car that is 2005 or newer and pass background check.

But if you cruise through all that, hey, you'll be ready to start picking up customers.

There are a few downsides however, just ask Ian Rutherford, a senior at Augustana College, who recalled a conversation he had recently with an Uber driver, "The driver said, 'Yeah there's some people who vomit in your car, they're not very nice sometimes', but, you know, you take the good with the bad."

Some local taxi drivers aren't too thrilled with the idea of having Uber drivers in the city for a variety of reasons.

Denise Stirrat, who's been driving taxi for 13 years, has paid more than $450 to stay a taxi driver in Sioux Falls.

Stirrat says, "They don't have to pay that. How is that beneficial for everybody? How do you know that, who you're getting in with, is just as safe as somebody who's gone through the background checks with the city?"

Traditional taxi drivers are required to go through a background check every year. The new city rules approved on Tuesday allow Uber to only run a background check once for their drivers, through a third party.

According to Stirrat, customers know who they're getting with a taxi driver. "They know we've gone and done the background checks, we've got our picture on a license that we display in the cars... They know who we are."

No timetable has been set yet for Uber drivers to start operating in Sioux Falls. But if you'd like to register, you can get more information here.

Source: KDLT TV

 

More From Hot 104.7 - KKLS-FM