Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Careem smart application car company will increase its prices from today (Wednesday) to cope with the new hike in the fuel prices, Makkah daily said on Tuesday quoting the company's co-founder and CEO in the Kingdom, Abdullah Elyas.

"We are increasing our prices in the light of the new fuel prices which were increased by between 80 percent to 112 percent," he said.

Elyas said the new fuel prices have put immense pressure on the company and its captains who are already suffering from the rising costs of living. "Our captains have now to face the high prices of fuel and the newly-introduced value added tax (VAT), " he said.

He said the high prices of fuel and the VAT have make it imperative on them to review their fares with a view to increasing them so that their captains can make decent living and their company will not lose money.

Elyas said tens of thousands of young Saudi men consider the smart application cars to be their only source of income. "Some of them are, however, using these cars to make more dough so as to increase their incomes," he added.

He said the captains have been asking the company to review its prices so as to be able to deal with the new economic structural reforms.

Elyas said the income these young captains make from the smart app cars is good most of the time but there are some trips in which the income will not be fair as the distance may be short.

"With the doubling of fuel prices, the current fares will not be fair at all so we have to review them," he added.

A number of captains of Careem and Uber have asked their companies to review the fares so as not to cut on the margin of their profits due to the hike of fuel prices.

Mohammed Abdul Qadir, a Careem captain, said the current fares would not be fair to them especially in big towns and cities, which are over crowded.

"In the big towns and cities the trips are usually long which consume large quantities of fuel so the current prices will not be feasible if they are not increased," he said.

Siraj Al-Harithy, a former member of the transport committee of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said the entire transport sector would be affected by the new fuel prices.

"If the smart app companies did not increase their prices, they will lose and so will their captains," he added.

Harithy asked the customers to rationalize their use of the smart cars and not to call them unless for important trips.