KENYA: Uber And Taxify Drivers Go On Strike

Drivers of Kenya's digital taxis shut down operations Monday in protest of what they term as exploitative corporate practices.

They say the firms are charging low rates to their clients, yet imposing high commissions on the drivers, leading them to work longer hours with little pay.

The Digital Taxi Association of Kenya, representing more than 2,000 digital taxi drivers, is in the fourth day of a protest that has seen drivers switch off their services, stalling transportation in the country.

The drivers say client charges have reduced over time as more digital taxi apps enter the market, but their commissions to the taxi firms have remained the same.

The drivers are demanding a review of their rates and working conditions. Through their association, they want the digital taxi services to double their client rates and reduce driver commissions to the companies so they can earn decent wages.

The fare itself, it has been very low from the word go, said Anthony Maina, an Uber driver in Kenya. The percentage after they get their commission, we get very little returns.

The main digital taxi services in Kenya are the American brand Uber and Estonian Taxify, as well as at least three others.

Uber charges a 25 per cent commission on each ride, while apps like Taxify charge 15 per cent. The drivers want rates at least doubled per kilometre, and commissions slashed to 10 per cent.

Kenya Digital Taxi Services director David Muteru is calling on Kenya's ministry of Transport to resolve the issue.

All these things are happening where we have government agencies who can take care of all these things without having pressure from us, Muteru said.

It is not our wish to come here and start demonstrating. Our demand is that we must have regulations. The pricing is very skewed in favor of the app companies to the detriment of drivers.

Maina says Uber reduced the maximum working hours from 18 to 12 in an effort to better the working conditions, but drivers overwork to earn more to meet expenses.

We cannot afford daily maintenance, he said. An example, each and every day you have to fuel the vehicle, you have to wash the car, and if you happen to be in the city center, you have to pay the city council.

All those expenses, when you put them together and maybe you do not own the vehicle yourself, you have to pay the partner and you know fuel has been going up every day and they are not adjusting their commission or fare. So that has been a big problem for us.

Earlier in the week, Uber drivers in South Africa also went on strike to protest the 25 per cent fee charged by Uber.

Digital Taxi Association representatives in Kenya are in negotiations with the taxi firms and Kenya's ministry of Transport as their strike continues.


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EGYPT: Taxi Drivers Complain Uber Drivers Have Unfair Advantage, They Do Not Pay Taxes Or fees.

Egyptian security forces fired tear gas Tuesday to disperse taxi drivers who had blocked a major road in the capital, Cairo, to protest Uber and other car-hailing applications, which the head of the Cairo traffic police insists are illegal.

The drivers stood in a roundabout on Gameat el-Dowal street after the canister was fired at them when they left their cars, witness Lamia el-Etriby and taxi drivers at the protest said.

They had blocked all but one lane, causing a major traffic jam as police vehicles arrived on the scene.

"We are not leaving until an official comes and gives us his word that all these apps will be shut down in Egypt," said Sherif Ali, a taxi driver and one of the protest organizers.

Taxi drivers have been protesting Uber's presence in the country in recent weeks. The application has very rapidly become popular in Cairo, a city of 20 million people with almost-constant traffic jams.

Taxi drivers have complained that Uber drivers have an unfair advantage because they do not have to pay the same kind of taxes or fees, nor follow the same licensing procedures. Now the Egyptian government appears to be agreeing, and launching a crackdown on the service.

Maj. Gen. Alaa el-Degwy, the head of Cairo's traffic police insists Uber and a similar app named Careem are Illegal as taxis require different processes and rules.

He said police in Cairo have begun clamping down on Uber drivers at checkpoints, and those who are caught must pay a fine.

The police also cancel the driver's license, take the car license, and refer the driver to public prosecutors, he said.

In addition to paying specified taxes, drivers must carry a special license and be registered as a taxi, said el-Degwy, who added that officers have even brought disgruntled taxi drivers along to demonstrate the crackdown in action.

Egyptian clients say they prefer the dependability of the app, complaining that normal taxi drivers often tamper with their meters or pretend the meter is broken in order to overcharge them.

They also appreciate the safety provided by the app, especially for female passengers at night who fear being sexually harassed by drivers in a country where sexual harassment is endemic.

Uber says it trains all drivers who enroll with the service, with particular emphasis on eliminating sexual harassment.

"As a victim of multiple sexual harassment incidents in cabs and by other drivers, Uber really made my life as a woman safer and easier in Cairo," said 31-year-old Radwa Al Rifai, adding that she is "shocked" at the government's measures "to take away from us the one safe means of transportation."

David Plouffe, Uber's chief adviser and a member of the board of directors, is currently visiting Cairo.

He said that the service has boomed in Egypt as both passengers and drivers embrace it. As many as 10,000 drivers have enrolled with Uber, including 600 who started on Monday alone, he said.

"They are taking some of our livelihood and splitting it with us," said taxi driver and protester Yasser el-Sharqawi. "We get fewer clients and when we get them they tell us, 'We will be using Uber and Careem instead.'"

In addition to the police crackdown, Uber drivers have faced vigilante violence from taxi drivers. In some instances, Uber drivers have responded to an order and found an angry mob of taxi drivers waiting to drag them to a police station.

Uber Egypt General Manager Anthony el-Khoury said that he and Plouffe, the visiting board member, plan to meet with government officials this week to find solutions to this standoff and ways to coexist.

"There is still discussion that will happen between us and the government to see if they feel comfortable with these types of regulations, or we can work toward stronger regulations so that we can coexist in a more transparent way," said el-Khoury. "I think there's a misconception that this is a zero sum game."

El-Khoury said that Uber has brought some "healthy competition" that might be pushing taxi drivers to address their customer-service issues. Protest organizer Ali said that drivers have begun organizing training courses against sexual harassment and thinking about ways to improve their services.

El-Khoury said that Uber drivers do pay Egyptian taxes through an indirect route. The company only hires drivers who are licensed through private limousine or car rental companies, which do pay their own corporate taxes, he said.

"This is a circumvention of the law," said el-Degwy, of the Cairo traffic police. "You cannot have a citizen riding in a car with someone he knows nothing about."

Taxi drivers chase foreigner out of Uber taxi in Pattaya

Taxi drivers in Pattaya surrounded an Uber taxi on Wednesday afternoon and forced a western passenger out of the vehicle, the Uber driver said.

Thai Uber driver, Surasak Khukham, 29, filed a complaint with the Pattaya Police Station at 11pm.

He also played a video clip he had recorded when his car was surrounded by five or six taxis on Pattaya 2 Road in North Pattaya in the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri province.

Surasak said the western tourist was terrified when the taxi was laid siege to.

Surasak was fined after the taxis surrounded his car and police turned up. His driving licence was seized.

Uber service is still illegal in Thailand.