On March 6, ride connection service Uber announced its presence in Madison in a blog post titled, “Madison, Your Uber Has Arrived!”

Previously, Uber was only in major cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, but according to General Manager Nick Anderson, “residents had been opening the Uber app and asking us to come to town” for months (it’s also now available in Milwaukee).

For those unfamiliar, riders use an app to order a ride from an Uber driver, and all transactions are handled through the app. Comparable service Lyft also began business in Madison around the same time.

Local drivers have been recruited through Facebook ads and from referrals, and some drivers have been past Uber customers in other cities, according to Anderson.

Uber–which has just a two-person team in Wisconsin–was free to use in March.

“We have seen an overwhelming response to Uber from (residents of) the City of Madison,” Anderson said, noting the “thousands” who took advantage of the free rides.

A major hurdle for Uber and Lyft is that the City of Madison requires public passenger drivers to be licensed by the City, operate 24 hours/day for seven days/week, have vehicles that have uniform color and markings, have a certain level of insurance and provide accessible service, according to city officials.

“As of now, we are continuing to work with the city to ensure that ridesharing has a permanent home in Madison,” Anderson said.

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Anderson, Candice Taylor of Lyft and Ald. Scott Resnick will discuss their positions at the monthly Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel.