Tasting Room Taxis: Mayor Rosacker’s Weekend Behind the Wheel

NEWBERG, Ore.—During a late 2024 City Council meeting, the mayor and councilors discussed increasing their support of the area’s wine industry to ensure the moniker “the gateway to wine country” was earned. 

The industry has been experiencing difficult times since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the 2025 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report, tasting room visitation has dropped consistently since May 2021, and the market is in a corrective period. The report predicts that tasting room visitation will continue to decline in 2025.

The Oregon Wine Board released a study in 2024 that revealed the flagging impact of the wine industry in Oregon in 2022, which experienced a post-COVID bump. The following years have seen an increased decline. City Council recognized the need to support the industry to ensure it’s future success. 

They formed a Wine Industry Ad Hoc Committee to bring winery voices to the council’s table and gain a better understanding of one of the Willamette Valley’s biggest industries—specifically, the challenges it faces.

One persistent challenge raised during the initial meeting that caught Newberg Mayor Bill Rosacker’s attention was the lack of reliable, affordable transportation for visitors looking to enjoy wine at one or multiple locations.

“The winery owners said they frequently field calls from customers asking about transportation,” Rosacker said. “They’ll ask if they can Uber up there, which they can, but they might not be able to get a ride back.”

Rosacker said that’s when he started questioning why there weren’t more Uber and Lyft drivers in the area. It sounded like there was a need, but nobody to address it. 

So, he signed up as an Uber driver and transported his first customers during the New Year’s Eve holiday, assuming that’s when the town needed it most. After working as an Uber driver for a few weekends, he learned that, as a business, it simply doesn’t make sense.

“The profit from the ride is essentially going to filling up with gas and covering expenses,” he said. “The real payment is going to be tax season when you can write off all of those miles.”

That realization helped him better understand how the rideshare business operates. Rosacker said most rides took him out of town—often to McMinnville or as far as Portland. Then, he had a choice: either accept rides in those more populated areas while hoping someone eventually wanted a ride back to Newberg or absorb the cost and drive back without a passenger.

“It’s capitalism, right? You have to go to where the customers are,” he said. “But the flip side is if the customers don’t think there’s reliable transportation, then they won’t use the app. It’s a chicken-and-egg scenario.”

Dru Allen, co-owner of Compris Vineyard in Newberg and president of the Chehalem Mountains Winegrowers, said he’s seen that problem firsthand. People call asking about the best way to safely get to and from the vineyard on Hillside Drive—roughly five miles out of town.

“The industry is mindful of safety and wants to be a good partner in the community,” Allen said. “It’s hard when people feel like they can’t get around and visit the wineries safely. It’s something I hope we can figure out soon.”

There are winery-specific transportation solutions available, Allen said; however, they are often viewed as premium, expensive options. Tour companies such as Black Tie Tours, Oregon Select Wine Tours, and Valley Vineyard Tours chauffeur customers to multiple locations, waiting in parking lots while they enjoy their tastings. These tasting tours generally cost hundreds of dollars, with pricing based on the wineries visited and the group size.

“We have a lot of tour operator partners that do a fantastic job in the valley,” Allen said. “But it’s a barrier for some people because they’re certainly more expensive than Uber.”

A more consistent option is a local taxi service, many of which declined in the mid-2010s with the rise of Uber and Lyft. One still operates in Newberg: S&B Transportation.

Editor’s Note: another local taxi company, JD’s Taxi, has business cards around town. However, Newsberg’s calls were not returned and it’s unclear if the business is still in operation.

“We take people out to the wineries all the time, or even just around town,” said Bobbi Allen, who co-owns S&B Transportation with her husband, Scott. “It keeps us busy in the spring and summer season, that’s for sure.”

S&B Transportation, founded in 2022, operates a fleet of three drivers who take customers around town and across the state. She said the company aims to keep transportation affordable, charging $4 per mile and offering flat rates for common locations such as downtown and Portland International Airport.

As a company with dedicated drivers, she said they can dispatch most times of the day to anywhere in town or beyond.

“Depending on where the winery is located, we can be there within 30 minutes at the latest,” Bobbi Allen said. “We want to support the wine industry more, especially now that we hear there’s a need. It’s important to have safe travel.”

Dru Allen said he doesn’t know the intricacies of rideshare apps or taxi businesses, so he couldn’t comment on what Newberg should do to improve transportation. However, he said one idea floated was a hop-on, hop-off transportation system that could shuttle visitors to area wineries, allowing them to explore the valley safely. While just an idea, he said something affordable and fun like that could help wineries struggling with declining tasting room traffic.

Rosacker said he sees potential to grow a locally owned taxi-type business in Newberg, especially during the busy tourist seasons.

“The doubt and unknown are still there,” he said. “The real question is, do we have enough business to support that? And we won’t know until people know it’s an option, which is tough for any business owner. It’s a risk.”

Rosacker still drives for Uber occasionally but said it has become less and less worthwhile. He decided to try Uber Eats, which he said is slightly more profitable and generally keeps his trips within Newberg. However, without a way to keep the food warm, he doubts it offers a good experience for customers.

Would he recommend people drive for rideshare companies in Newberg?

“Probably not,” he said. “It’s not profitable or sustainable. We need to find something else that will work here.”