Fear grips taxi-drivers as Uber enters Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. It is likely to be a gain for passengers who use cabs as a global taxi hailing company Uber entered Tanzania’s commercial capital with a system that charges per kilometre. A 10km distance which the normal drivers charge up to Sh30,000 will attract just about Sh5,000 if the traveller books through the new system.

This has started creating fears among taxi drivers who feel that they would lose their business.

Launched last Thursday, with four days of promotion ride at the cost of Sh12,000, Uber’s technology platform connects drivers with passengers through its application anywhere in the city.

When one starts the Uber app from anywhere, drivers can see and accept the request. The would-be passenger can also see the driver’s first name, photo, and license plate number.

They can also check whether others have had a good experience with him or her and the contact the driver.

 The service is generally offered through mobile phone application.

A survey by BusinessWeek established that many taxi drivers and potential customers are unaware of modalities of operating under Uber taxi services, implying that there is a need to mount public awareness campaigns.

Mr Juma Ngonyani says for the case of drivers who do not own taxis, they are unsure to gain from Uber, but for those owning cabs they could reap benefits.

“For the price which they have set at about Sh500 per km, it is difficult to share the gains among us (taxi drivers), taxi owners and Uber. This Uber service is relevant and beneficial to taxi drivers who own cabs,” says Mr Ngonyani, based in Gerezani.

He is also worried about meeting the costs of operating the taxi that will be raised by traffic jams and bad roads in the city. “At the cost of, let us say, Sh6,000 for a return trip from Kariakoo to Julius Nyerere International Airport under Uber, it is difficult to meet transport cost, because our experience has shown that the price from Kariakoo to the airport is not less than Sh15,000,” he says.  Another taxi-driver Fakhi Mungai is pessimistic about Uber if there will not be more demand for such services.

A taxi-driver who operates near Mwananchi-Tabata Relini, Mr Khalfan Mohamed expresses pessimism against Uber arguing that the taxi business is already facing stiff competition from motorcycles popularly known as bodaboda and Bajaj.

“I am not sure that the taxi-drivers, especially those who do not own taxis are going to gain. Hired taxi-drivers under Uber are bound to remit double payments, which are for Uber and taxi owners,” says Mr Mohamed.

But The Exchange magazine chief editor Aly Ramji says he has a good experience of Uber in Nairobi, indicating that there will be cheap transport in Dar es Salaam.

“There is currently a day light robbery by our taxi drivers in this city because they charge very expensive fares without considering the price of fuel or distance. I recently hired an Uber taxi in Nairobi and realised that it’s comfortable, predictable and guaranteed safety,” says Mr Ramji.

For tourists arriving at Julius Nyerere International Airport the charges have been up to Sh60,000 from the airport to Kariakoo.

However, with Uber, the fares range from Sh7,000 to Sh10,000 for the same trip. 

Tanzania becomes the second country in East Africa after Nairobi which tasted Uber for the first time in 2015.

In Africa, South Africa was the first and at least 500,000 customers access the service.

The firm started services in San Francisco in 2010, which provided a catalyst for its spread in various mega cities of Europe and America to an extent that Uber is now operating in 475 cities and more than 70 countries globally.

Experience in other countries

Earlier in the year, suspected regular taxi operators torched two Uber taxis in Nairobi in protest of the company’s business model.

The United Kenya Taxi Organisation feared Uber for protecting interests of the organisation’s members but the Kenyan government maintained that under the market economy monopolistic tendencies in transport business were not allowed.

Protests against Uber also took place in South Africa in April this year basing on fear over price cuts among traditional tax drivers.

In May this year a South African politician in charge of transport in the central Gauteng province had to be rescued by armed policemen in Johannesburg after metered taxi drivers attacked and held him hostage in a protest against Uber, Forbes publication reported.

Even in European megacities similar incidents took place, indicating that taxi drivers around the world protested against the popular ride-hailing app, arguing that the service took food off their tables and compromised their livelihoods, CBC News reported. 

On June 25 last year Anti-Uber protests across France, particularly in Paris and Nice, saw tires set on fire, windows smashed and cars overturned, according to CBC News.

Uber has asked numerous governments for regulation to allow the tech-friendly service to operate within the confines of the law.