Uber Launches New Service Amidst Drivers Protest

Uber, a ride-hailing platform, has increased its trip costs in response to criticism from drivers. This comes after drivers’ objections to Uber’s unfair pricing.

Uber Increases Trip Cost 

The company announced on Monday that the price increment would be across all of its products, revealing a 10 percent adjustment to minimum fares. 

However, the company has refused to highlight the impacts of the new pricing on its various ride products. 

Nonetheless, it indicated that the lowest fare a passenger can pay, the minimum fare for the Uber Chap Chap product, would increase by 10 percent.

Imran Manji, Uber’s Head of East Africa, said, “Effective today, we’ve finished our calculations. We first had to analyse the prices, look at the data, and speak to drivers with whom we have round tables almost every week. We’ve finished our analysis and now we have increased our prices on all our products.”

Uber Introduces ChapChap Priority Services To Mitigate Low Fare Earnings

Alongside the fare adjustments, Uber has also introduced new initiatives aimed at enhancing driver earnings.

Also Read: Uber to Add 100,000 New Electric Cars Worldwide, Not Including Africa

One such initiative is the introduction of “ChapChap Priority,”. This is a new product that allows passengers to pay an additional Sh110 per trip during high-demand periods. It also increases passengers’ chances of quickly matching with a driver.

Drivers who opt into this service can earn an extra amount on top of the regular fare.

Uber says its new pricing mechanism (algorithm) takes into account factors such as the minimum fare, the starting fare, the fare per kilometer which is based on the distance traveled, and the fare per minute which takes into account the time taken to complete a journey.

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