Uber’s move to attract more customers

As meter taxi drivers continue to fight the existence of Uber in Johannesburg, the online taxi service company is now coming up with ways to expand and tap into their customer base in South Africa.

Uber is an on-demand taxi service that allows users to request private drivers through an application on a smartphone. It has been operating in the country for two years and has more than 4 000 drivers countrywide. Since its inception, the system only accepted electronic payments.

However, on 26 May, the company announced that they were launching a cash pilot project, which will see them attract more customers.

Speaking at a press conference in Rosebank, Alon Lits, who is the company’s general manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, said Uber was experimenting with a cash payment system in which customers could pay for their fares. He highlighted that the move was basically their way of listening and responding to the market which was based on data and research.

Although this will be a new addition for Uber, Lits said their move was not a revolution. “Drivers have been carrying cash for years,” he said. However, he added that their drivers have been advised to not carry a lot of cash on them. “We encourage drivers to deposit the money regularly and also use their cash to pay for fuel and supplies.”

Whether drivers will always have change for customers is something the company could not confirm, but Lits said if a driver did not have change at his disposal, the user’s account would be credited with the difference and could be used on their next Uber ride.

Read: Uber under attack

Head of the company’s Trust and Safety division, David Myers said they were committed to driver and customer safety. He said the technology on their app made it possible to focus on safety for passengers and drivers, before, during and after every trip. He added that they were exploring the use of GPS and motion detection sensors in cellphones which will help predict and prevent risky driving behaviour.

With the cash acceptance move, Uber did not see itself as being in direct competition with taxis. Lits also highlighted that they were engaging with meter taxi associations on the ground to discuss how the violence against Uber drivers could be ended. He also said meter taxi drivers were welcome to operate under Uber.

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