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Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

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Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#91

Post by lxgr »

nradov wrote: post #87
lxgr wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and that's arguably absurd. It creates dozens of people and dozens of cars all in each other's way. It's complete and utter chaos I've not experienced in any other country.

No, that's not how it works. The ride share drivers wait in a parking lot near the airport. Then when you hail one using the app they come pick you up in a designated zone. The app notifies you when your car arrives and you can check the license plate. It works fine most of the time, there's very little chaos. Have you ever even been to a US airport?

> Have you ever even been to a US airport?

Yes, I travel to/from US airports all the time. This is based on my personal experiences there.

Admittedly, there are some where it does work a bit better (NYC does seem to be particularly bad, but fortunately at least JFK has the AirTrain; EWR seems to be giving up on theirs).

But all in all, the experience is notably worse than in most other countries I've been to.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#92

Post by Bnjoroge »

pcurve wrote: post #20

Kilimani to jkir is about 20 km and a bit over half hour ride. Their published rate is about 16 bucks. A longer 52km ride is about 38 bucks. It’s cheap by western. Not sure how it fares against other comparable countries.

Visited CapeTown and Egypt. It's actually a lot cheaper in Kenya, especially for short rides.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#93

Post by Bnjoroge »

beaglesss wrote: post #5
aranelsurion wrote: post #3

So they basically reinvented taxi again, with the added captive audience factor coming from abusing the platform.

Always carry an object capable of smashing out a window when you ride in a 3rd world taxi

gotta include the US in this as well lmao

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#94

Post by daghamm »

outcoldman wrote: post #83

My experience with Uber/Taxi in Sweden. Got out of ferry, need to go to the airport, 40 minutes drive. There are a lot of taxies at the ferry terminal, sure, I talked to them, asked how much is to Airport, they all replied "by meter". Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. And all of them drove that route a lot of times, nobody gave me an estimate. So I have ordered Uber. Uber driver asked me how much Uber i…

"I declined, just because I want to support Uber."

Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case.

As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#95

Post by d1sxeyes »

daghamm wrote: post #94
outcoldman wrote: post #83

My experience with Uber/Taxi in Sweden. Got out of ferry, need to go to the airport, 40 minutes drive. There are a lot of taxies at the ferry terminal, sure, I talked to them, asked how much is to Airport, they all replied "by meter". Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. And all of them drove that route a lot of times, nobody gave me an estimate. So I have ordered Uber. Uber driver asked me how much Uber i…

"I declined, just because I want to support Uber." Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case. As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.

Huh? Uber are providing an estimate that taxi drivers won’t. Kind of the whole point of the comment.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#96

Post by JaggedJax »

When I was in Kenya last year (around Nairobi & the coast), I was shocked with how cheap the Ubers were. I was wondering how they could even pay for gas with the rates being so low. This answers that question and it's not at all surprising to find Uber yet again corrupting the market and the drivers paying the price.

At that time everything was going through the app like normal, but I did find that most drivers would call you to confirm the pickup or destination spots to be sure. I don't recall many if any cancellations.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#97

Post by Bnjoroge »

throwaway201606 wrote: post #19
beaglesss wrote: post #4

This makes no sense,why wouldn't Uber just increase rates and take a cut rather than let the drivers eat their lunch? What incentive do they have to charge less than the market will bear?

For this particular market, they are not charging less than the market will bear, they are charging all they can. They have to keep taking an 'L' specifically because there is extreme efficiency in price information discoverability in a commodity market. Explaining: Some background info: - almost all drivers are signed up with all services [ ie i) Lyft, Uber - which are global & ii) Faras, Bolt which are internationa…

Eh not sure I agree. Lyft has no presence in Kenya and don't think anyone uses Faras. Bolt has had its fair share of issues that have made it a slinkily option as well. Uber's pretty much the only reasonable option which is why the drivers are revolting.

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#98

Post by daghamm »

d1sxeyes wrote: post #95
daghamm wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I declined, just because I want to support Uber." Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case. As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.

Huh? Uber are providing an estimate that taxi drivers won’t. Kind of the whole point of the comment.

But one driver said he will match Ubers price? Isn't that a kind of estimate?

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#99

Post by cozzyd »

nradov wrote: post #87
lxgr wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and that's arguably absurd. It creates dozens of people and dozens of cars all in each other's way. It's complete and utter chaos I've not experienced in any other country.

No, that's not how it works. The ride share drivers wait in a parking lot near the airport. Then when you hail one using the app they come pick you up in a designated zone. The app notifies you when your car arrives and you can check the license plate. It works fine most of the time, there's very little chaos. Have you ever even been to a US airport?

Some states seem to not require front plates which makes it extra annoying. Especially if I'm bad at identifying vehicle models (I basically only use Uber/Lyft when I travel for work to get to my hotel in cities with shitty or nonexistent public transport...)

Re: Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

#100

Post by outcoldman »

daghamm wrote: post #94
outcoldman wrote: post #83

My experience with Uber/Taxi in Sweden. Got out of ferry, need to go to the airport, 40 minutes drive. There are a lot of taxies at the ferry terminal, sure, I talked to them, asked how much is to Airport, they all replied "by meter". Well I know you can set any rate to your meter. And all of them drove that route a lot of times, nobody gave me an estimate. So I have ordered Uber. Uber driver asked me how much Uber i…

"I declined, just because I want to support Uber." Why? They are not providing anything real service in this case. As with any gig work, the payout drops down to horrible levels once the company is established and has no real competitors. This may explain why some drivers now want to avoid Uber for longer rides.

Because if we will agree with drivers, in that case Uber is not going to have profit, and Uber will be gone from that city/country. And we will be back to the taxi world.
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