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    This Is What's Next For Uber Australia's Aggressive Expansion

    BuzzFeed News looks into where in the bloody hell is next for Uber in Australia.

    As Uber's popularity continues to bubble in Australia's capital cities the company's focus is getting uberX legalised in the ACT and then spreading to smaller Aussie towns.

    The ride-sharing company took the *cheeky* step on Wednesday of cutting Australian uberX fares by 10% - the same amount of the so-called "Uber Tax" levied against the service. It's another way the company is thumbing its nose at the regulators and the taxi industry as it continues its aggressive expansion plans.

    The first plank is in Canberra, where Uber considers the ACT government "the first domino" in its strategy to win over the country. If the ACT, with its population of 300,000, mostly public servants, and its Labor party administration can stare down the taxi unions, Uber's calculation is that others will follow.

    "We are extremely pleased and encouraged that (ACT Chief Minister) Andrew Barr has taken a leadership position on these issues and is choosing to act in the best interests of the people of the ACT," said Uber Australia CEO David Rohrsheim to BuzzFeed News.

    But BuzzFeed News understands the service is also considering adopting the US strategy of finding root in smaller towns. Uber does not have any immediate plans for Australia's capital cities - sorry Hobart and Darwin - and they're getting hammered by taxi unions in Perth and Adelaide.

    Geelong and the Gold Coast are the first two online right now with full-time uberX services. Next comes the Newcastle and Mornington Peninsula services which were tested earlier this year.

    A senior company source told BuzzFeed News it was the mindset that saw Uber pop up in US towns Augusta, Springfield, Columbia - all with less than 200,000 people - and it would be the same guiding force down under.

    The source pointed to Uber's test run in Newcastle during the terrible storms that occurred last month. Within 24 hours it had set-up and provided as many as 2,000 free rides during one of the state's worst storms in years.

    According to the Newcastle Herald, drivers were registered by Uber at an afternoon get-together at the Mereweather Bowling Club.

    It also tested with rides along Victoria's Mornington Peninsula last summer. Apparently, again, it was a success. The company gloats about its ability to move into an area fast and have drivers ready to ride. It's little wonder taxi opponents think of it as a virus.

    BuzzFeed News detailed Uber's so-called "hyper-local" approach to world expansion earlier this year. Australia is sticking to the US rule book which has meant endearing itself to customers and pissing off taxi groups.

    Federal treasurer Joe Hockey told BuzzFeed News that companies like Uber and Airbnb are the ones that Australia need to welcome, not push away. Hockey even described privately how he caught an uberX on his visit to Washington.

    It's little surprise then that Uber is putting its eggs into the basket of the ACT where a review will conclude at the end of this month.

    Uber has found a good friend in ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. The new Labor leader in the territory has made it abundantly clear that he wants to be the first pro-Uber region in the commonwealth.

    "If we can find the right way to regulate these services then I'm in favour of people being allowed to use them legally," Barr told BuzzFeed News.

    "I support market innovation and a better experience for consumers in the on-demand transport sector, and believe that digital booking services (appropriately regulated) have a part to play."

    In the US, BuzzFeed News wrote last month, "it's already over and uber has already won", describing the company's gargantuan $40 billion valuation and how it's intending to expand.

    If the US rule book continues to be mapped across Australia's continent, it's hard not to think the same also, the battle is already won.