Uber marks 12 million rides in Kenya after a rocky start

Since entering the Kenyan market, San Francisco-based taxi-hailing firm, Uber has endured its fair share of breakdowns and bumps, the journey none the less has been worthwhile.

Since its launch in January 2015, Uber has so far made more than 12 million trips locally in Kenya while globally, it has made more than five billion trips in the over 570 cities where it is currently available.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received from both our rider and driver communities in Kenya. We are happy about our growth in Kenya so far and we remain committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable transportation for all riders at all times and economic opportunities for driver-partners.” said Uber general manager for East Africa Loic Amado.

The company attributes its growth to their commitment to ensuring mutual growth is experienced by both parties, being a pioneer in the Taxi hailing services also gave them a great headstart.

"Uber succeeds when driver-partners succeed. We have partnered with over 6,000 drivers in Nairobi and Mombasa. Our 12 M trips growth can be attributed to high rider demand and our partnership and commitment to drivers." Mr. Amado added.

It has however not been a smooth ride from the beginning, early this year Uber drivers in Kenya went on a go slow, demanding for higher rates and better working conditions.

Among the grievances, the drivers cited were low profits incurred due to the cheap rates Uber offered after it slashed its fares by 35 percent to boost demand for the service, amid growing competition from local firms.

The strike went on for weeks as the two parties failed to reach an agreement, at one one point it risked getting ugly after a section of Uber drivers resorted to pouring oil on their colleagues' cars who had defied the strike and continued operating.

After government's intervention, the strike grievances were finally addressed and Uber drivers went back to work.

Uber is now determined to put the strike in the past and says it also learned valuable lessons in the process which has helped it become the great company it is today.

“So far we have seen the value of emulating one of the company's core values: Celebrating Cities. We do this by ensuring that we understand the cities that we operate in by employing local operations teams and by celebrating the cities culture through on demands such as UberCHOMA, UberICREAM and UberPITCH to engage with both riders and drivers.” Amado said.

Uber is also determined to drive change in the community and recently partnered with IEBC during the elections to provide free rides to all persons with disabilities and also offered Sh200 ($2) off to and from polling stations for all new and existing riders in Nairobi, Thika and Mombasa.

To mark the milestone, the ride-hailing app will add an ‘in-app’ chat feature locally to enable riders and drivers to communicate through short message services.

“Every great ride starts with the pickup, so we are always thinking about ways to make the pickup experience as frictionless as possible for riders and drivers alike,”