Fare cuts raise Uber’s Nairobi client numbers

Online taxi hailing company Uber has doubled its Nairobi passenger numbers helped by the fare cuts announced in July.

“Based on our results, driver-partners have had a 100 per cent increase in new rides per week, this means that the price cut has doubled the amount of new riders for driver-partners,” said Uber in a statement on Monday.

“Our driver partners are now getting over 70 per cent more trips per day but working less hours. We continue to have over 100,000 unique people opening our app every single month,” the company said.

The price slash was met with mixed feelings by drivers and owner-operators of the vehicles on the platform.

Earlier this month, more than 800 drivers through the Digital Taxi Association of Kenya joined a court case claiming that Uber was engaging in restrictive trade practices by capping the fares at Sh35 per kilometre with a minimum fee of Sh200.

The drives claimed that the move was an attempt by the app company to create a monopoly in the taxi industry.

Initially, Uber was charging Sh60 per kilometre and an additional Sh4 per minute above a base fare of Sh300.

The price slash by Uber prompted other players in the e-taxi front to lower prices or have value addition to their respective services to keep up with the competition.

READ: Mondo Ride cuts Nairobi fares in price war with Uber

Mondo Ride slashed its rates in September to Sh45 per Kilometre with a base fare of Sh100 down from Sh58 per kilometre with a similar base fare.

The ‘budget’ option for Mondo Ride dropped to Sh35 per Kilometre from Sh48 and a waiting fee of Sh3 per minute and a base fare of Sh100.

Estonian app Taxify in august dropped fares to Sh40 per Kilometre down from Sh50 per kilometre with the base fare remaining unchanged at Sh100.

“We are continuously watching and reviewing the effects of the price cut and we are thrilled that the results show that the price cut is working,” said Nate Anderson, Uber’s General Manager in Kenya.