Uber and Careem, MENA's two leading ride-hailing companies and rivals are at it again. The two companies have launched minibus services in Egypt.
Careem first announced their service - dubbed 'Careem Bus' - as well as plans to expand it to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan yesterday. The launch comes more than a year after Careem invested $500,000 in Egyptian tech start-up Swvl, which offers bus booking services on its own mobile app. Careem said it had since divested the stake.
CEO of @Uber @dkhos in Egypt to celebrate and announce a major milestone in Uber’s history in front of one of the most iconic landmarks in human history #UberForEveryone pic.twitter.com/2XoHMm7wwC
— Uber_Egypt (@Uber_Egypt) December 4, 2018
While Uber made their minibus - UberBus - announcement today. It is also expected that Uber will make a couple of other announcements. Seeing that their CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, is currently in the country.
There's is also a possibility of Uber introducing their minibus service to other markets like Nairobi. But that could be on condition that it works out well in Cairo.
This is a part of the initiatives Uber has rolled out to adapt to the different markets where they operate. For example, they rolled out Uber Chap Chap in Kenya and UberBoda in Uganda.