Mondo Ride cuts Nairobi fares in price war with Uber
What you need to know:
- Taxi firm sets Sh45 per kilometre and Sh3 a minute for its customers down from Sh58 and Sh4.
Online taxi-hailing app Mondo Ride has slashed prices by a fifth in a fresh round of price war with main rival Uber, which cut fares by a third in July.
The Dubai-based taxi firm said customers will pay Sh45 per kilometre and Sh3 per minute in addition to a base fare of Sh100 effective Thursday midnight.
Mondo Ride previously charged Sh58 per kilometre and Sh4 for every minute spent in a journey, plus a base fare of Sh100.
The taxi-hailing company, which has more than 1,000 active drivers in Kenya, becomes the second taxi firm after Taxify to cut fares.
Uber pulled the trigger with a 35 per cent drop in prices starting July 28.
Taxify, an Estonian taxi startup, in mid-August lowered prices by nearly a fifth to charge Sh40 per kilometre, down from Sh50, Sh4 per minute from Sh5, while the base fare remained unchanged at Sh100.
“We have to follow the market prices,” said Joar Lindh, head of Africa at Mondo Ride, in an interview with the Business Daily.
The rapid-fire price cuts by Uber, Taxify, and Mondo Ride come as a win for consumers who will now enjoy lower fares.
However, the price war piles pressure on rivals such as Little Ride and Sendy (both backed by Safaricom), Teke Taxi, Maramoja.
Dandia, an e-hailing app owned by Pewin Cabs, is due to be launched Friday.
Mr Lindh also disclosed that prices for ‘Budget’ tariff — made up of older vehicles — will now be charged at the rate of Sh35 per kilometre from the previous Sh48 but waiting fees and base charge remain unchanged at Sh3 per minute, and Sh100 respectively.
Uber in July reduced the app’s per kilometre cost to Sh35 from Sh60, and lowered per minute transit charges by Sh1 to Sh3, but left base charge intact at Sh100.
The San Francisco-based firm also lowered the minimum fare payable to Sh200 from the previous Sh300.
Mondo Ride’s minimum fare for any trip is Sh200, Mr Lindh said, adding that the firm did not have price changes dependent on demand and supply.
He was referring to Uber’s ‘surge’ function — where it increases rates by a multiple, say 1.5 times, in the event that demand cannot be met by the number of cabs in service.
Nairobi metropolis is estimated to have more than 10,000 taxicabs each doing an average of four trips daily, according to official data, conservatively valuing the capital city’s taxi business at Sh20 million a day.
This continues to whet the appetite of global and local players seeking to digitise Kenya’s chaotic but lucrative taxi industry.
Little Ride, developed by local IT firm Craft Silicon and backed by Safaricom, charges passengers Sh55 per kilometre and Sh4 per minute — with no flat base charge or price surges.
Sendy Ride, minority-owned by Safaricom, has set charges for a taxi at minimum fee of Sh300 for up to three kilometres and thereafter Sh70 per kilometre. There are no price surges, the firm said.
