Uber slashes prices in Mombasa

Taxi hailing service Uber has lowered the fares for Mombasa users.

The move comes barely a week after another hailing company Little Ride expanded its operations to Mombasa.

The new fares mirror the massive price slash announced in Nairobi in July as competition in the taxi businesses heats up.

Uber Operations Manager Kagure Wamunyu said the reduction in prices is expected to spur demand for taxi services in Mombasa, which is a popular tourist destination.

“By lowering prices you see a much higher demand for rides which means driver-partners can spend more of every hour moving people and less time waiting around for a paying ride,” Ms Wamuyu said.

Uber has over 1,000 drivers on its service, making an estimated 10,000 trips daily.

Customers will be charged a base rate of Sh50, Sh35 per kilometer with an additional Sh3 per minute.

Uber is banking on the success of the hailing service in Nairobi and Lagos, Nigeria to curve out a significant market share.