“I WAS lucky my customers were three big white guys,” says Themba, an Uber driver in Johannesburg recounting a close call with taxi-drivers who tried to block him from collecting passengers at the airport that serves South Africa’s economic hub. “They pushed them out the way and we managed to drive off.”
The ride-hailing app has made a slow start in Africa yet it is fertile ground for a firm offering cheap and safe transport. Most passengers have to choose between overpriced cabs or the back of a motorcycle taxi.
In Abuja, locals use a low-tech version of ride-sharing. Many folks simply stick out a hand at the roadside to hail any passing car before negotiating a fare. Yet locals warn that fake taxis cruise the streets with robbers hiding in the trunk, ready to jump out at a traffic light. In Lagos, some taxi-drivers are even thought to be in cahoots with kidnappers. Not surprisingly, Uber seems to be growing quickly in the few cities where it has launched. In many places rides cost less than a quarter of the fare charged by taxis. And it is adapting to local markets too. In cities such as Nairobi, where few have credit cards, customers can choose to pay for rides using mobile money on their phones, or in cash.
However, the firm is also facing some potholes quite unlike the regulatory barriers erected elsewhere in the world (such as, in Paris and Frankfurt, rules that stop Uber from using unlicensed drivers). Instead of lobbying the government or going to the courts, taxi-drivers in some African cities have taken matters into their own hands.
At the airport and main railway stations in Johannesburg, cabbies crowd around commuters, looking intently at their smartphones before trying to manhandle those who seem to be getting into Uber cars. Shots have been fired in some of these clashes. In Cape Town and Nairobi, Uber cars have been torched and their drivers attacked. The firm has responded by hiring security guards to watch over the main flashpoints in Johannesburg and is testing a panic button that calls armed guards.
Uber also seems to be having some success in winning over taxi-drivers, mainly by signing them up. In Accra, many Uber drivers are also old-fashioned cabbies who have chosen to venture into online ride-hailing. Petrus, an Uber driver in Johannesburg, says he joined the firm three months ago after working for many years behind the wheel of a taxi. “Those who are remaining as taxi-drivers are losing hope,” he says. “Lots of their friends are joining Uber.” Having as many as possible in the drivers’ seats is certainly preferable to having them throwing stones from the side of the road.
from The Economist
