By Sonia Farid
As Uber drives up its business in Cairo, with a staggering 30,000 drivers already servicing the app, it is pertinent to ask why commuters are turning to the international transport giant and who is really benefiting.
Cairo is the Middle East and North Africa’s fastest growing city in terms of Uber usage with 70 percent of the capital’s drivers providing Uber services, 40 percent of whom were previously unemployed, according to an official press release. In addition to the job opportunities made available by the introduction of the service in Cairo, Uber changed the lives of countless Egyptian commuters, especially those concerned about the safety of regular cabs and those dying to take a break from driving through Cairo’s notorious traffic, a notion confirmed by Uber Egypt General Manager Anthony Khoury.
“Uber transformed urban mobility for millions of Egyptians when we launched in Cairo, introducing a safe, reliable and efficient way to move around the city,” he said.
Uber’s advent in Egypt was, however, far from hassle-free. In addition to protests staged by drivers of regular cabs who found in Uber a serious threat to their livelihood and who demanded that the service be banned altogether, questions have been put forward as to whether Uber has really managed to solve any of Cairo’s pressing problems.
While drivers of regular cabs, commonly called “the white cab” in Cairo, accuse Uber of stealing their customers, those same drivers are considered by customers to be amongst the main reasons for Uber’s success.
Complaints about cab drivers were mainly centered around tampering with the meter in order to increase the fare or not agreeing to turn the meter on to start with, which led to endless bargaining between drivers and customers. Added to this are other reported behavioral patterns on the part of some cab drivers that pushed customers away. According to Abdel Rahman Abul Wafa, the first Uber driver in Egypt, these include smoking in the car, refusing to drop off customers at their exact destination, using cellphones while driving and inappropriate advances with female customers.
“All these issues disappeared with Uber and if any such thing happens, the customer can instantly report it to the company, which will take an immediate action with the driver,” he told Egyptian newspaper Akhbar Elyom.
The protests staged by white cab drivers drew the government’s attention to the violations they reportedly commit and drove the Customer Protection Agency (CPA) to work on monitoring them, especially as far as fares are concerned. “The agency contacted the Ministry of Interior to request that white cab licenses will only be renewed after examining the meter and making sure it was not tampered with,” said CPA director General Atef Yaacoub said, according to newspaper Youm 7.
Nasser Hamdi, member of the Egyptian Automobile Manufacturers Association, said that the introduction of Uber service played a major role in reviving the used cars market in Cairo and which had for a long time been stagnant.
“Sales increased by 60 perent because youths can now use the cars to earn money through working as drivers for Uber and similar companies,” he said, according to the Masra Al Arabia website, adding that cars manufactured between 2012 and 2015 are particularly popular among young drivers. — Al Arabiya English
Women and Uber
Women are seen as the main beneficiary of the introduction Uber in Cairo. With the rising rates of sexual harassment in the capital, women had become increasingly apprehensive of taking taxis, especially those who live in the outskirts. This has changed remarkably with Uber due in part to the cooperation between Uber Egypt and Harass Map, an NGO that counters sexual harassment. According to Alia Suleiman, spokesperson of NGO’s initiative entitled Safe Spaces, the agreement with Uber is based on making the car a safe space for women who choose to use the service. “We trained Uber staff, who in turn trained the drivers,” she said, according to the Akhbarak wesbite, adding that through this training, drivers get to know the meaning of sexual harassment as well as how to deal with a woman who was harassed or the person who harassed her.
While Uber cannot be credited for solving any of Egypt’s traffic problems, its partnership with the Egyptian traffic updates application Bey2ollak, announced on Uber’s first anniversary in Egypt, guarantees a smoother ride for customers. Through this partnership, Bey2ollak updates Uber drivers on congestion points, construction work and road accidents, thus enabling them to choose the fastest route to the customers’ destination.
“We’re glad that we’re helping our users reach their desired destinations in the safest, most convenient way,” said Bey2ollak CEO Mohamed Rafea, accordng to website Egyptian Streets. “We are also excited to be Uber’s first API partnership in Egypt.”
