Uber has been operating in Egypt since 2014 and currently has 703,000 drivers, according to the company’s latest statistics. The service is available in Cairo, Alexandria, the Suez Canal Cities, Hurghada, and a number of Nile Delta cities.
Competition heated up after China's DiDi, one of the largest ride-hailing companies in the world, launched in Egypt late last year at reportedly lower prices.
Recommended fares for UberX rides in the Egyptian capital will be cut to EGP 2.8 per kilometre and EGP 0.42 per minute instead of EGP 3.05 and EGP 0.45 respectively, the company said in a message to the Uber app users.
However, the company has kept the base fare and minimum fare unchanged at EGP 8 and EGP 13 respectively.
“Uber is all about facilitating access to convenient, reliable and affordable rides for anyone, anywhere, and at any time. In light of this mission, we have decided to decrease prices in Cairo… starting 31 January,” the company’s message said.
According to statistics released by Uber earlier this month, over 31 million passengers have taken trips since the launch of the service in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The company said that Uber bus grew by more than double in Cairo in 2021 compared to 2020.
Uber’s latest decision to cut the fares comes a few months after the company decided to raise the fares on UberX and Uber Comfort rides in Cairo and Alexandria due to a fuel price hike in the country.
Uber also increased their fares in May after the country’s price-setting committee slightly increased fuel prices in April.
Competition heating up
China’s DiDi and Russia’s InDriver, which are giant ride-hailing firms with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, recently made their way into the African markets, competing with Uber, which has been present in the continent for a decade.
In September, DiDi announced that the base fare for rides in Egypt would range from EGP 7.2-7.5, while the fees per kilometre and fees per minute will be EGP2.61-2.8 and EGP 0.36-0.40 respectively.
DiDi launched its services in Alexandria in September last year and extended the service to the capital over the past weeks.
As of the fourth quarter of 2020, Didi accounted for 88 percent of all ride-hailing trips taken in China, the Washington Post reported.
InDriver, which was launched in Egypt in 2020, allows clients to specify the fee they are willing to pay and negotiate the fare with the drivers.
Uber has been facing stiff competition with the two companies in the African market over the past months. In 2020, Uber completed the acquisition of its Middle Eastern competitor in Egypt, Careem, at $3.1 billion.
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