Online taxi
hailing app Mondo Ride has launched a service that allows its customers
to request for motorcycles, seeking to cash in on their growing
popularity due to their ability to manoeuvre through traffic.
The
Dubai-based Romania-founded company, which launched locally in January,
rolled out the boda boda service last week charging customers Sh25 per
kilometre in addition to a base fare of Sh50. The minimum charge for the
service will be Sh100.
Mondo’s introduction of a motorcycle hailing option is expected to pile pressure on Safaricom-backed Sendy which also offers a similar service over and above regular taxis.
“We
are onboarding riders. I cannot disclose any numbers as this is
sensitive information,” Joar Lindh, Mondo Ride head of Africa, told the Business Daily in an interview last week.
Mr
Lindh did not disclose how much commission it will be charging its
riders, only indicating that the first three months will be free — a
move meant to entice more motorcycle operators to sign up.
Mondo’s
competitor Sendy charges users Sh200 for rides that are less than seven
kilometres long with trips longer than that attracting a Sh30 per
kilometre charge.
The
company, which also has more than 1,000 company accounts in Nairobi and
its environs, expanded services to Kisumu and Mombasa in August. Sendy
contracts riders and drivers and connects them to customers via a
marketplace.
Motorcycles have become highly popular
mode of transport in major cities including Nairobi because they
navigate through traffic jams much easier and faster than cars.
Their
increased use in Nairobi has seen the operators clash with the county
government which wants to ban them from ferrying passengers within the
central business district.
BodApp, a purely motorcycle
hailing app, was launched last month in partnership with Telkom Kenya.
Baxi, an Indian on-demand motorcycle company has also announced that it
plans to launch its services in the local market.
Ever
since the advent of Uber in the Kenyan market in January 2015, Nairobi
has witnessed increased activity and innovations in the taxi space.
Kenya
Bus Service has for instance revealed plans to start a high-end hailing
service that will include Mercedes and sport utility vehicles to cater
for the untapped segment of the taxi business.
This
increased activity has led to price war mainly pitting Mondo Ride
against Uber, the San Francisco-based taxi hailing app which currently
has more than 4,000 drivers in the country.
These
lowered prices, and the resultant lower commissions, have forced the
taxi hailing companies to develop new ideas and lower prices to attract
customers.
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