The world’s largest ride-hailing company, Uber, has started operations in Tanzania following a nine-month hiatus brought on by legislative reforms made by the government.
In April of last year, it stopped providing services in the nation when the regulator limited the commissions Uber could charge its drivers to 15% from the usual 33%. Uber had contended that the adjustments would hurt its financial position. The regulator increased the charges to 25% after discussions in December.
“We are excited to kick-off the year on such a positive note by re-entering the Tanzanian market,” Uber said in a statement.
The newsmen were told by one Uber driver that the higher charges would improve their revenue. Uber’s comeback, according to users in Dar es Salaam, will provide them more choices.
TechCrunch has discovered that Uber, which stopped offering UberX, UberXL, and UberSave services in April, began making steps to reinstate full operations on Monday, joining Bolt, whose services were resumed in October. Bolt charged 20% in commission while Uber demanded 25%. Their exit opened the market to domestic companies like Ping and Little, which levies a 15% commission.
“We made the difficult decision to pause our operations in Tanzania because the regulatory changes that were introduced created an environment that was challenging for our business to operate under. We have, since the pause, maintained our engagements with LATRA and other regulatory bodies in Tanzania as a show of our commitment to resume full operations in the market, providing drivers with an avenue to earn and riders an enhanced mobility option,” said Uber’s East and West Africa head of communications, Lorraine Onduru.
The resumption of the e-hailing services comes after stakeholders, including representatives of Uber and Bolt, lobbied for the rates to be reviewed, leading Tanzania to announce last September that a middle ground had been found and the firms would resume operations.