In Kenya, drivers of digital taxi platforms are on strike. This Monday, September 9, there were about 4,000 of them on strike in Nairobi, according to the Online Drivers Organization. The movement is expected to last three days. They accuse three platforms – Uber, Bolt and Faras – of having reduced fares for customers to remain competitive while keeping the same commission for drivers.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Gaëlle Laleix
It is through an application simulating a radio that Dennis Nyariki, vice-president of the Online Drivers Organization, mobilizes his troops. According to him, since the three major taxi platforms have been waging their price war, drivers have no longer been able to make ends meet: ” Uber, Bolt and Faras are competing and continuously lowering their prices. Around 2015, Uber was charging the customer 65 shillings per kilometer, petrol was then 97 shillings per liter. Today, they are charging 28 shillings per kilometer and petrol is 188 shillings per liter. »
In addition to the petrol, there is the commission of the platforms – between 18 and 23% -, the loan, the insurance and the maintenance of the car. Jeremaia Omae has to repay 30,000 shillings per month and only earns 35,000. He can no longer keep up with inflation: ” Even the price of our public toilets is increasing. It used to be 5 shillings, now it is 20! Some of my children are not going to school because I can’t afford the fees. I can’t afford a good clinic for my wife. Food, school… if I pay for that, I can’t pay for my car. »
So to earn more, drivers drive more. Charles Branton works about eighteen hours a day: ” We work twelve hours with Uber, then fifteen with Bolt. Some drivers sleep in their cars. In their trunk, you will find a blanket, a Maasai rug and flip-flops to wash where they can. In August, the platforms increased the rates by 20 shillings, then they increased their commission by 2%. It is a way of spitting in our faces. »
Contacted by RFI, Uber claims that the increase in fares, decided in August, allows drivers to ” maximize their income ” despite inflation.
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