This week, we told you that Uber was set to launch operations in Mombasa, marking the second city of operation in Kenya. Uber operates the UberX service locally, where it launched operations in January 2015. All around the world, Uber had been synonymous with cashless payments only launching cash payments in Hyderabad, India. Nairobi was the second city in the world where the service accepted cash payments besides accepting payments made through mobile money services. In an interview with Reuters, Uber’s general manager for Sub-Saharan Africa states Nairobi is Uber’s fastest growing Sub-Saharan market with 100,000 users opening the App monthly.
Uber is now planning to venture into three Sub-Saharan market of Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. The taxi hailing service currently operates in 7 cities in South Africa,Nigeria and Kenya. Its launching pad into these markets will be convincing taxi drivers to adopt the technology. In Kenya, Uber has faced resistance from taxi drivers owing to increased competition. The strategy is meant to avoid similar circumstances in these markets.
As part of its introduction to the Kenyan market, Uber Kenya users are offered free rides of up to Kshs. 500 for sign up. Users would also get a unique promo-code, which they would share with new users and both redeem for free rides worth Kshs. 500. In Kenya, an Uber ride fare is calculated based on a base fare of Kshs. 100 that is added to Kshs. 4 per minute spent on the ride which is also added to Kshs. 60 Per kilometer of travel. The minimum fare cost is Kshs. 300
