Uber has finally bowed to pressure and agreed to raise ride charges in Kenya by 10%. The ride hailing app confirmed this yesterday saying the price changes will apply to all its products.
Over the past few weeks, taxi drivers using apps like Uber and Bolt have been complaining saying most of the rates these apps charge are just too low. They claim that the high cost of living and high commission taken by the apps may put them out of business. Some drivers have even been demanding more money from the riders from what is indicated on the app.
Commenting on the latest developments, Imran Manji, Uber’s Head of East Africa said, “Effective today, we’ve finished our calculations. We first had to analyse the prices, look at the data, and speak to drivers with whom we have round tables almost every week. We’ve finished our analysis and now we have increased our prices on all our products.”
He further stated, “If you are only going down the road we will give you the minimum to make sure that the driver is compensated for the shortest journeys. That minimum fare for Chap Chap is now Sh220; this was Sh200.”
This is good but I do not think it will be enough for most drivers. When the drivers first went on strike a few weeks back, they had stated that they wanted the minimum fare for any trip to be Ksh 300. Uber isn’t keen to implement this.
Uber also said that its pricing mechanism takes into account factors such as the minimum fare, starting fare, fare per kilometer, and fare per minute. As these changes are implemented, we will be watching how the drivers react.
“We hope that this behaviour of price negotiation will now stop. We encourage all passengers that if they find themselves subject to that to please report it to us directly or in the app. We ask all passengers to please report any behaviour where a driver is asking for an amount more than what is in the app,” said Mr Manji said.