Denis Opudo
The competition that involves Uber vs Taxify continues to intensify. Taxify expanded its operations in major cities across East Africa. Taxify is an Estonian-based taxi platform. It has its popular destination at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Jomo Kenyatta International airport is the largest airport in Kenya if not in the region. The expansion was done in the last three months of 2017. Besides Nairobi, Taxify also started operating in Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Mombasa. The operations began in the last three quarters of 2017.
The expansion has seen the company improve its growth rate. The year 2017 saw the company celebrate one year since its launch in the east African region. Within that period, Taxify was in charge of above 5 million trips across East African region. The company called on everyone to join them in their first-anniversary celebration. Taxify decided to reward the twelve loyal riders in Kenya and the gifts were iPhones. This was according to Alex Mwaura, city manager, Taxify Kenya. The reward will be a sign of appreciation for the support the company has been able to receive.
The taxi’s longest journey in Kenya covered 176 kilometers. The journey in Nairobi went at the cost of Sh6, 000 and it took more than three hours thirty minutes. The most popular car on the Taxify platform is Toyota Fielder and the company is the biggest Uber challenger in the region. Uber is a US-based tech firm. It offers transport services across Africa. The company launched premium cab category to make their customers comfortable. The launch came in October 2017.
Uber vs Taxify categories comparison
The premium category is costly than the normal category. The category nicknamed Taxify Comfort charges the least fare of Sh220 and the normal least charges go at Sh220. Uber launched its premium comfort known as UberSELECT. UberSELECT launched weeks before the launch of Taxify Comfort. It charges a fee of Sh300 per trip. The competition has gone high since the launch of Taxify taxi operations.
