E-taxi drivers have threatened a strike if digital car apps and their associated organizations do not address some of their issues, most of them from more than three years ago.
The most talked about grievance is the price war presented by each service. The drivers say that the friction between taxi apps, namely Uber, Bolt and Little, has watered down their earnings at a time when the working force is undergoing financial constraints.
The price issue has been here for a while. Drivers have for a long time complained that their earnings were on the low side. In other instances, the companies have attempted to rival each other by cutting down taxi fares.
According to the driver partners, the collective outcome of the fare issue has since made it impossible for them to make ends meet, and some of them have found the whole business unsustainable.
The drivers also want the commission earned by e-taxi apps reviewed.
Another issue that has been brought up includes the recognition of e-cab drivers as workers. That would mean that they can qualify for social security benefits.
In countries such as the UK, the courts have since ruled that Uber drivers are workers from the time they start using their driver apps until they shut them down. The argument is that the drivers spend time waiting for riders to book a trip on the app. Thus, they are entitled to worker benefits.
Whether e-taxi driving will not be seen as a gig in the Kenya market is something we will have to wait to see in the coming days, bearing in mind that the whole case has many assessment vectors.
