As Uber finally launched in Aberdeen yesterday, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce took a ride with day one driver Matt, who spoke of the "freedom" working with the service gave him.
Booking a ride on the app was a straight forward process, with the price clearly displayed in advance as well as information about the driver, including their vehicle and customer rating.
Matt, already boasting a five-star rating, arrived bang on time and was happy to chat with us as we drove from the chamber offices in Bridge of Don through to the city centre.
He said: "It's a great freedom because I can switch off and go any time. I'm not restricted to paying a radio fee that I need to get my money's worth out of. I can log on and log off as I see fit and I know what I'm making throughout the day."
Matt, who previously worked for a number of local taxi firms and also ran his own company, said the freedom now is "phenomenal" without the pressure to work longer hours.
On day one, Matt was one of three live Uber drivers in the city, but he said 25 more were in the pipeline already, and that more would be likely to follow now that the app had gone live.
We were Matt's sixth fare of the day, with a mix of customers on the first day.
Matt said: "It's been good. The public are really happy. The people who are using it, a lot of them were unaware that Uber didn't exist in Aberdeen. Some of the people that have been coming in are just being international tourists."
As a former taxi driver, Matt was well aware of the issues that exist around revellers facing long waits for taxis home from the city centre following a night out.
Asked if he thought Uber would help to alleviate that, he said: "Absolutely. The issue is not the number of cars on the road, it's the access customers have to those drivers.
"What Uber is going to do is give drivers the ability to connect directly with customers and customers the ability to flag down, virtually, a car at their will."
Uber vehicles will not be allowed to use taxi ranks in Aberdeen, but Matt explained how this would work in practice.
He said: "Uber has made sure that any rank is a no-go zone for a pick up. Customers will just be advised to cross the road or move away from the rank so the driver can safely pick you up away from other vehicles.
"There's designated pick-up and drop-off zones at the P&J Live and at the airport and train station, etc.
"With the power Uber's got just now, everyone's getting a 70% discount or thereabouts on every fare. So a fare typically costing typically £5 is about £1.70 to £2 at the moment. I know that they are doing that for the next wee while.
Uber's expansion into Aberdeen faced passionate opposition from taxi firms in the city, and Matt said he had already come under fire from drivers for switching to Uber.
He said: There is a lot of animosity from other drivers, but that was expected. The drivers are giving me pelters already. There's a lot of drivers that won't like what's happening and it's very clear that there's two sides to it already."