NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A New Mexico man is going head to head with America’s major ride-share companies Uber and Lyft and he’s promising to shake up the scene in part with better safety measures. “I look at every situation as would I want my daughters or my wife in this vehicle,” said CEO & founder, Steve Wright.
It’s been over a decade of dominance now in the ride-share scene for companies like Uber and Lyft and it’s no secret some of their methods have sparked opinions. “At the time, there was a lot of problems with the major ride-share companies not wanting to background checks and things like that in Austin where we live so we decided to take on that project,” said Wright.
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He wants to fix that. “This was going to be a small operation outside of Austin which is where we live and people just started hearing about it asking when can you come here when can you come to our city,” said Wright.
A native New Mexican, Wright is behind the company he calls Wridz. “Passenger safety was huge cause my sixteen-year-old daughter was using rideshare in downtown Austin which scared me to death and she said she was scared many times too,” said Wright.
Wanting more safety, he said the company is thoroughly background checking their drivers. “We do face-to-face interviews and drug screening on all drivers,” said Wright.
Drivers are also given unique driver numbers that only their passengers can see, so there is no confusion on what car you should be getting into. “We’re the only app that let’s you direct driver request. So for instance, if you took a ride and you really liked your driver, you can save them in your profile,” said Wright.
Drivers can also save passengers, so if a driver has a bad experience they can avoid that request in the future. “We’re after the best of the best in the industry,” said Wright. “We’re in 19 regions, and nine different states but we’re servicing about 2,000 cities at this time.”
Wright is hoping to make an expansion into his home state soon. “We’re not currently in New Mexico but if there is enough need if there is enough interest, say for instance in Albuquerque, if the drivers say we’re interested we want this here, then that goes onto our list of we’re going to get there,” said Wright.
Wright said right now they are in the process of hiring drivers in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri.
