Uber may roll out a new service in Kenya to help users book seats on minibuses that ply the streets of the congested capital. That is if tests on the product in Egypt and Mexico prove successful, a company executive said on Wednesday.
Uber estimates that more than a third of Kenyans in Nairobi use the often crowded minibuses, known as matatus, as their main form of transport around the city, Uber’s East Africa General Manager Loic Amado told Reuters.
“We want to be part of the transportation ecosystem in Nairobi and matatus are a big part of how people move around,” he said, adding the feature would be available on the Uber app.
Once the service is proven in Nairobi, Amado said it could be expanded to Kenya’s neighbours, such as Uganda’s capital Kampala and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The idea would be to apply it to vehicles carrying up to 16 people, he added.
Amado said the new Uber product would allow customers to track and trace the minibuses.
Source: Reuters.