Uber has introduced stricter rules for its drivers in Kenya in a bid to enhance customer satisfaction and stimulate demand as the influx of chauffeurs on the app weighs down individual earnings.
To minimise new driver entry into the platform and boost quality of service, the ride-hailing firm has tightened vehicle age requirements, allowing only much newer cars to operate on the platform, locking out scores of drivers with older car models.
Starting January, the eligibility ceiling for economy category cars, including ChapChap and UberXL, will be reduced from 16 years to 10 years, while Uber Comfort cars must now be no older than eight years, half of the previous threshold age.
The company has also now introduced mandatory training sessions for new drivers enlisting on the platform, a move meant to better familiarise them with Uber’s features and community guidelines, in efforts to boost the quality of their delivery to customers.
These come amid incessant outcries by the ride-hailing drivers of low earnings from the platforms, which mostly dictate how much clients should pay, calling for a review of pricing to boost their income from the apps.
Uber Head of East Africa, Imran Manji, however, says the drop in earnings has nothing to do with the pricing or the commission it takes, but results from the surge of drivers on the platform, which is not complemented by a growth in demand.
“The root cause [of the drivers’ concerns] is not that Uber is taking too much; it’s that there are so many drivers looking for the opportunity to earn a living using the Uber app,” Mr Manji told Business Daily.
“What we’ve observed is that the rate of growth of drivers looking for earning opportunities on the platform exceeds the rate of growth of riders using the platform.”
The influx of drivers on the Uber platform is compounded by the heating competition in the ride-hailing space, with more and more entrants joining the industry nearly every year, while the population served by the services has nearly remained the same.
While Uber was the first ride-hailing company in Kenya in 2015 and still one of the most popular, the number of similar companies has increased to 14 in less than a decade, highlighting a heated scramble for customers in the industry.
Last year alone, at least nine new ride-hailing firms were licensed. The digital taxi drivers went on a strike to lament the high commissions charged by the ride-hailing firms, forcing the regulator –the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to cap the interest chargeable at 18 percent.
“Even after we’ve taken a much lower service fee, one of the lowest in the world, there are still concerns from drivers,” Mr Manji said.
But as more people flood the platforms to earn a living, growth in demand for their services has been muted amid a series of economic shocks that have led to a high cost of living, a fall in real wages and high unemployment.
“We don’t have sufficient demand for Uber rides, but we have a huge inflow of drivers who want to earn a living from the platform,” noted Mr Manji.
According to Mr Manji, instead of capping the supply of drivers to prevent or limit new entries, Uber will focus on making sure that “we have a very good quality of supply.”
