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Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

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Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#71

Post by jojobas »

protocolture wrote: post #60
tclancy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but what’s a taxi to the airport cost now? Otherwise the comparison doesn’t mean much.

We have an issue where Uber Drivers dont know the local laws about child restraints. They dont need them. Taxis, Busses, Trains and Ride Shares are given explicit exemption from the laws about child restraints. My wife, taking my kiddo around, has had to stop using Uber because they turn up, see the kid, and drive off cancelling the fare. However, Taxis do know the law, and are centrally enforced into permitting chil…

At least Victoria and NSW treat ubers exactly like private cars in terms of child restraints.

"Cannot carry safely" is valid defence for whatever discrimination suit I believe.

Then again, plenty of Uber drivers carry a booster seat, I wonder why Uber doesn't just have a checkbox for that.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#72

Post by protocolture »

jojobas wrote: post #71
protocolture wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have an issue where Uber Drivers dont know the local laws about child restraints. They dont need them. Taxis, Busses, Trains and Ride Shares are given explicit exemption from the laws about child restraints. My wife, taking my kiddo around, has had to stop using Uber because they turn up, see the kid, and drive off cancelling the fare. However, Taxis do know the law, and are centrally enforced into permitting chil…

At least Victoria and NSW treat ubers exactly like private cars in terms of child restraints. "Cannot carry safely" is valid defence for whatever discrimination suit I believe. Then again, plenty of Uber drivers carry a booster seat, I wonder why Uber doesn't just have a checkbox for that.

Yeah but in QLD: https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/children/exemp...

"Child restraints are not required on buses, trains or personalised transport services such as taxi, limousine and ride-booking services. A bus is a motor vehicle that can carry 13 or more people (including the driver)."

Have not spotted a booster seat, or been offered one in an uber in like 3 years with the kiddo.

"Cannot Safely Carry" be hard to justify when the legal definition permits them to just sit in a normal seat with a normal belt.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#73

Post by simtel20 »

quirino wrote: post #40
tristanj wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a controversial take: outside the US/Europe, Uber is mostly a tourist app. If you actually live in developing regions: 1) your income is much lower, and you are quite price sensitive. The Uber price premium (20-40%) hits much harder. 2) the Uber alternatives are noticeably cheaper for the exact same trip. Regarding your experience, if you were local, that inDrive driver likely would not have tried to extort $1…

My experience in Brazil: Uber is way cheaper here. Compared to what I paid in San Francisco, I'd estimate a ~10x difference. And things here are rarely 10x cheaper. The difference in restaurants is probably less than ~2x. My point being it probably feels like less of a luxury for us than for people in the US. I'd say it's probably the most popular app too. I've never met people who used others.

99 is quite popular in Brazil, and is often cheaper, but Uber does seem ubiquitous there and is the leader.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#74

Post by deaux »

tristanj wrote: post #39
mvdtnz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your take isn't controversial, it's just wrong. And you seem to be implying everywhere outside of USA and Europe is a developing region?

You claim it's wrong, yet don't bother to justify your position at all. I've ridden on Uber, Lyft, Bolt, Grab, inDrive, Careem, Yandex Go, Gojek, DiDi, Kakao T; and in my experience, outside the US/Europe (plus a few others), Uber is mostly for tourists. The alternatives are cheaper. > implying everywhere outside of USA and Europe is a developing region I'm not doing so at all. Those are separate sentences.

FYI the ones you named include ones priced exactly the same as Uber. Uber doesn't take the same cut in every country.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#75

Post by myko »

esseph wrote: post #62

US SOCOM also just pulled out of Nigeria. The rumor is that this is becoming politically sensitive, so the US DoW is turning things over to none other than Erik Prince (Blackwater, Xe, etc). Nigeria is an important source of minerals, for example: lithium. Africa is being hotly contested right now between ISIS, the US / West, China, and state-local political factions.

> US DoW

To be clear, it is the DoD - Department of Defense

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#76

Post by lmm »

apsurd wrote: post #51
33MHz-i486 wrote: post #50

has Uber had a positive ROI on the billions invested in it? I am pretty sure the return on the preferred price from the late rounds 10 years ago is basically zero. Net income has always been negative or close to zero. From a consumer perspective, in late stage cities, uber rides are the same or more expensive than old taxis, and the quality of vehicles is lower. what was it all worth?

at $156B market cap someone sure is making money. I've no say in the manner in which they ran/run their business but judging a mega-corporation on lemonade-stand level accounting is a fool's errand.

> at $156B market cap someone sure is making money.

So 50x Pets.com or 2x Enron.

> judging a mega-corporation on lemonade-stand level accounting is a fool's errand.

Disagree. Unit economics matter and can help you cut through a lot of hype and nonsense. "Where's the money coming from?" is always a good question to ask. Sure, sometimes a megacorp loses money on each transaction and makes it up on float or whatever, but that's at least worth knowing if that's what's going on.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#77

Post by itake »

tristanj wrote: post #7

Makes sense, Uber's 30-50% cut is far too much. How can they compete with inDrive which only takes 10%. And on inDrive you set your own fare. Rides are 20-40% cheaper elsewhere, why would anyone pay extra for Uber?

Can't speak for InDrive's safety rating, but I would pay 30-50% more for Uber's safety tech (on a $5 ride) than a company with less funding.

(I'm ex-Grab).

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#78

Post by brunoarueira »

SoftTalker wrote: post #34
chermi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does no one have any memory of what taxis were like and how much they cost? The taxis are gone because they weren't competitive.

And taxis weren't competitive because they were heavily regulated in most markets by a medallion system that artificially kept the supply low.

In Brazil, it wasn't a matter of regulation, but honest because multiple taxi drivers normally drive to where you want really slow to increase the cost of your travel. Although, when they don't have any passengers they drive like crazy and really unsafe!

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#79

Post by rolandog »

augment_me wrote: post #52
tristanj wrote: post #7

Makes sense, Uber's 30-50% cut is far too much. How can they compete with inDrive which only takes 10%. And on inDrive you set your own fare. Rides are 20-40% cheaper elsewhere, why would anyone pay extra for Uber?

People like the knowledge that they are not being ripped off by the person they are interacting with. On Uber you are essentially guaranteed that you are paying the absolute max that you would accept algorithmically, and the driver is getting the absolute least they would accept to drive for. If the balance shifts in any way, someone is ripping off the person they will interact with. Since the customer knows less abo…

That means Uber is screwing the driver and customer the algorithmically maximum amount. It should be less, and it should be in the driver's favor. They should be able to afford a decent living.

Re: Uber shuts operations in Nigeria and Uganda with immediate effect

#80

Post by itake »

brazukadev wrote: post #57
alephnerd wrote: post #3

Bolt (the CEE ridesharing app) is the primary player in Nigeria. In Uganda it's primarily a bunch of local startups.

Lovely. That's tech creating good jobs. I hope Uber leave my country too.

Bolt lost their license in Thailand due to poor safety tech after a Bolt driver (that borrowed another account, didn't have a license) attempted to kidnap a school girl [0].

Bolt creates 'good' jobs for criminals, but I don't think that is what we want.

[0] - https://www.khaosodenglish.com/tech/2026/05/12/bolt-tightens...

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