By Annie Njanja
In Summary
San-Francisco-based taxi hailing firm Uber has set
its sights on other Kenyan towns after conquering Nairobi and Mombasa
where it is now the most widely used taxi service.
Uber says it grew the number of Kenyan drivers four-fold
this year, owing mostly to a 35 per cent price cut that came into effect
in July.
ALSO READ: 800 Nairobi Uber drivers fault price cuts
The firm has so far signed-up over 4,000 drivers.
In May, it had 1,000 drivers and had clocked eight million kilometres
since launch in January 2015.
“Uber’s ambition is to be everywhere - any
progressive, forward-thinking city that has a need for safe, reliable
and efficient transportation and we want to be there. We are part of a
broader mobility movement, establishing smart cities of the future and a
big focus for 2017 is to start exploring options of where to go next in
Africa,” said the Uber Kenya spokesperson Janet Kemboi in an interview.
Uber says it experienced a ten-fold growth in
business during the year compared to last year. This was despite attacks
on Uber drivers by rival street cabs at the beginning of the year.
“In 2016 our growth was boosted by about 300,000
unique riders who have taken a trip in the country in the past three
months,” said Ms Kemboi.
In the July price cut, Uber lowered its rate to
Sh35 from Sh60 per kilometre and reduced it charges per minute by Sh1 to
Sh3 in addition to cutting price of short rides by Sh100 to Sh200.
The price cut triggered price wars with new entrants as battle for riders in Nairobi took centre stage.
After the July price cut took the industry by
surprise, Dubai-based e-hailing firm Mondo Ride responded to Uber’s move
by introducing a budget option, giving riders an extra choice to match
their budgets.
Riders now pay a rate of Sh35 per kilometre and Sh3 per minute and a base of Sh100.
Safari service
Mondo Ride launched its services locally mid-January. Estonian-based Taxify also followed with its price cut.
Mondo Ride has since unveiled additional services
that include the standard taxi hailing service, a boda boda option
allowing customers to request for motorcycles and a larger taxis
targeting corporates.
The firm recently launched a safari service allowing riders in
Nairobi to hail a car for a one day trip to tourist attraction sites in
Naivasha, one of Kenya’s major tourist hub. And more services are in the
offing, the firm says.
“We will soon be launching the Mondo Wallet which allows the
user to top up his or her Mondo account using M-Pesa. I will give you
more details about this as soon as we launch it. We are also looking to
expand Mondo Safari to offer a variety of destinations in Kenya,” said
Mondo Head of Africa, Joar Lindh.
Safaricom backed Little ride by local IT firm Craft
Silicon entered the e-hailing market mid this year with an aim of
taking over the sector with pocket-friendly rates.
The firm is the latest to slash its rates,
positioning itself as the cheapest e-hailing app in the market. It
charges Sh30 per kilometre and Sh4 per kilometre with a base fare of
Sh100.
Two-player country
Little has also aggressively spread in areas where Uber has a presence.
In October, Little entered Mombasa, shortly after
Uber launched its service. The firm is fast getting the attention of the
locals by riding on diverse add on services that includes free wireless
Internet.
“I do not think Uber dominates the market any
longer. Our average number of trips and theirs do not have much
difference now. I believe other players are far behind, and ultimately
Kenya will be a two-player country – Little and Uber,” said Kamal
Budhabhatti, founder of Craft Silicon.
“Uber have been in the market for over two years
now. We are still a relatively young company, remember our launch
happened in July. Over the holiday, we have hit over 10,000 trips per
day as of last weekend.”
Little Ride is also eyeing the Nigeria and Uganda
market where Uber enjoys monopoly. Uber is also looking to venture into
other markets around the country and Africa in 2017.
ANjanja@ke.nationmedia.com
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