In an effort to persuade the companies to reduce the commission levied on their costs, taxi drivers who work under the Uber Kenya and Bolt platforms on Monday staged a go-slow.
Zachariah Mwangi, chairman of the Organization of Online Taxi Drivers and Digital Taxi Association of Kenya said that Uber and Bolt firms should abide by the law, according to The regulation was set to go into effect on September 22, 2022.
“We are asking Uber and Bolt to obey the law. Regulations were supposed to take effect on September 22. This is the backbone of our strike which started today morning,” he said.
The strike comes only days after new regulations governing the commission charged by taxi-hailing businesses at 18% went into effect, which Uber has challenged in court, claiming that the move will limit flexibility in its revenue model and impede its capacity to negotiate reasonable fees, affecting investment, demand, and competition.
The Bolt and Little app charge 20 per cent and 15 per cent commission for each ride, respectively, compared to Uber’s 25 per cent commission fee.
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Mr Zachariah Mwangi also mentioned that they do not set prices, which is a challenge for them.
“The other problem we have is we don’t determine prices, the companies do. We are still operating with the same price when fuel prices were at Ksh97,” he said.
Uber Kenya acknowledged that some drivers were moving slowly and promised to keep talking to them about their issues.
“We are aware that a small group of e-hailing drivers plan to go offline (not using the app). We respect drivers as valuable partners with a voice and a choice and we want drivers to feel they can talk to us about anything at any time,” the firm said.
In June, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) released laws establishing a cap on commission fees that digital taxi services may charge drivers in the nation at 18% per trip.
The regulation was planned to go into effect three months after the notification in an effort to provide some relief for the thousands of drivers who have long bemoaned falling pay.
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