The fast and affordable UberGo

UberGo is a more affordable ride option with a minimum fare starting at 13,000 UGX. This option uses smaller, fuel-efficient hatchback vehicles, to boost rider demand and unlock further earning opportunities for drivers.

Current drivers on UberX can now cross dispatch onto Uber Go and have the first option to add UberGo cars to the new service. 

The new UberX explained

UberX, with a minimum fare of 14,400 UGX, is now a high-end trip experience for those looking for extra comfort. The product is designed to give riders more trip customisation options and an enhanced on-trip experience. 

It will connect riders to top-rated drivers (with a minimum rating of 4.84)  with newer vehicles, offering riders a stylish ride and drivers with greater earning options. 

Commitment to improving Uganda’s ecosystem 

“Uganda is a key market for Uber in Sub-Saharan Africa. As we grow, we are committed to rolling out a suite of products that demonstrate our understanding of the local market. As we expand and launch new products, drivers will have access to more earning opportunities, and riders to reliable and convenient modes of transportation,” says Imran Manji, Head of Uber East Africa.

The company explains that they are committed to supporting and empowering the thousands of drivers that keep cities moving. With the new prices, these changes will help drivers to better manage increasing operating expenses and continue offering quality rides for residents’ everyday needs. 

Safety remains a key priority for Uber. UberGo and UberX carry the same door-to-door safety features such as GPS tracking, Driver Injury Protection, 24/7 support, and driver background checks and screenings.

As ridesharing becomes a way of life for more people, Uber is rolling out a new safety feature, Safety Check Up. Based on research, most riders seem to be unaware of the safety features available to them. As a result, Uber has launchedSafety Check-up in Uganda which will encourage riders to complete their safety profile by turning on and utilising available features such as Trusted Contacts, PIN verification and RideCheck.

This can be achieved by using any Internet-connected device with a browser which could be your computer or alternate smartphone without the uber app installed. In fact, you can call an Uber off your main smartphone app, and book a second trip with a different account on the same smartphone by simply adopting the No-App formula.

To get started, you simply need to have an Uber account, then, you must also have access to your registered phone number since Uber sends a one time pin (OTP) to it as confirmation for your non-usual app login. Once logged in, you will be able to see nearby Uber drivers and schedule your trip with ease by entering your destination and pickup points.

How you Call an Uber without using your Smartphone App

• Visit m.uber.com and enter your account phone number
• Uber will re-send a One Time PIN (OTP) to your number, enter it correctly

• Then, enter your password if at all your account is password-protected
• Then, Uber will redirect you to the trips booking dashboard where you can choose to schedule and call an uber near you

• DONE: Enjoy Uber without using your Smartphone App

All in All, you can call an Uber through reliable methods like through the App or official web application as listed in our guide. Through the same methods, you can also order a Lyft pickup or Bolt trip with ease. You simply need to know your account credentials to get going with an instant trip you would have orderred with the official smartphone app.

Due to the current COVID19 Pandemic, Uber has only resumed its Taxi-hailing wing and continues to mute its Boda wing. However, if the Lockdown continues south and 2Wheel Motorbikes meet an open terminal, Uber Boda will also be resumed.

Unlike Safeboda which has continued to operate by utilizing its Food delivery and parcel delivery wing, UberBoda only operates with the newly launched UberConnect that allows customers to send packages in Uganda.

With Uber Taxi trailing as the only resumed option, the option has also been trimmed to only Uber X leaving Uber XL in a ditch. This is due to a 2Passengers directive by Government, further clarified by Uber through its Notice:

During this period you can still access the UberX option which will continue to be available on the Uber app. Please note that The President has directed that no more than 2 passengers can be transported at once – so please bear this in mind if you are requesting with a group of people.

During normal operations, Uber X is limited to 4 passengers due to car specifications. But with the new limitation, each car will be authorized to carry only 2 passengers to respect the social distancing policy.

As Uber takes its operations live, we expect rival providers like Bolt (Formerly Taxify), Little Cab and Mondo ride to borrow the lifted Lockdown streak to resume normal operations in Uganda.

The service launches in a timeframe ruled by a nationwide lockdown forcing Uber to halt operations in Uganda. According to the Uber country manager, Uber has been sourcing for new solutions to still serve customers under the current COVID 19 Pandemic.

During this crisis, we have been working around the clock to find innovative ways to leverage our technology to assist consumers to move essential care packages while also enhancing earnings opportunities for drivers on our platform

Aaron Tindiseega, Uber Uganda Country Manager

How to send Packages with Uber Connect

• Pack your items in a sealed box or bag
•  Then clean your Package’s surface with a disinfectant
• Choose Your Package destination ‘Where to?’ in the Uber app.
• Choose Uber Connect as your ride option (Ignore UberX, Uber Boda)
• You’ll then get notifications with instructions on how your package will be picked up
• Once your Driver allows, Simply place your Package in the car boot
• If paying with Cash, Hand it to the driver with minimal interactions
• You can then share the package’s real-time location stats with up to 5 contacts If you wish

By its operations fashion, Uber Connect shares the same model as SafeBoda’s delivery service with the service’s drivers taking on the mantle to deliver packages safely from customers to their recipients.

Hence, with the new Uber connect service, Customers will be able to send packages, and not initiate actual trips to have their Items delivered to a recipient.

While Uber has so far not cracked a sounding impact for its boda-hailing wing, the brand has maintained its position as the best taxi-hailing service, and it’s to this that its trip rates are now up by 20%

Uber X which refers to the regular Uber taxi cabs now has a rise in Per Kilometer and Per Minute fares only, to motivate drivers who in-return increase their availability times to take on more Uber trips.

Well, aside from the recent changes made by Uber that were dominated by a 13% rise in October last year. Uber has this time round limited its alteration to the Kilometer and Per Minute tier to tip drivers during heavy-traffic hours. Nonetheless, below are the new trip rates

Tips from riders head directly to the driver’s wallet and as per Uber’s policy, tips don’t carry any service charges. However, the new feature is 100% optional to riders and its only accessible via the trip ratings section meaning its the 6th star that has always missed on the 5stars bar.

How to tip your Uber driver

• Download the latest version of the app.

• At the end of your trip, add a tip after rating your trip. Select from a range of pre-set amounts or enter a custom amount.

• Tap Done to send your tip.

• Tips will go directly to the driver-partner, Uber will not deduct any service fees from the tips.

Paying for the Tip credited to your Driver

Though Uber has a straight cash approach with credit payments have low light shade on them unlike its competitors like SafeBoda. It’s tipping feature which is the first of its kind in the industry only accepts payment using a credit/debit card since its what Uber supports with plans to roll out support for Mobile money payments.

The new Uber tip feature is basically one of the best features we’ve always wanted o see come true in a season where hailing services are all competing for the top slot driving less income to the drivers. Hence, its a win-win for drivers and a solution to riders who have always wanted to tip drivers at the end of a trip.

Well, between Bolt Taxi, Uber X series and Little cab, which is the most reliable service to use? or even where do low trip rates lie? If you’ve had any of these questions, then worry not we have Uber in the blue corner, Bolt in the green one as Little cab streams from the Yellow side.

The Price difference

All 3 taxi hailing services, Uber, Bolt, and Little cab have different price estimations depending on the distance covered encompassed to the current traffic situations. In Africa, all 3 services hike prices during on-peak hours and times when riders are beyond the maximum rate. So, the cost per trip is usually not static but instead calculated basing on these native figures per hailing service.

	Bolt (Ugx)	Uber (Ugx)	Little (Ugx)
Base Rate	950	1100	1100
Fare Per Km	600	750	750
Time (per minute)	150	150	150
Minimun Fare	4500	3000	4000
Ride Cancellation	N/A	3000	N/A

Reliability

In this digital age, every successful technology based platform is using an app to make things happen. It’s to this same craze that all taxi-hailing services ship apps for both riders and drivers. As a matter of fact, having an app is the first step towards maximum reliability for all riders relying on the service, even when Uber and Little allow you to ride without a smartphone.

It’s important to realize that even with a bullish name in the ride-hailing industry, you can’t trust a hailing service until you taste its fruits with a quick ride. So, we tried taking trips with Uber, Bolt, and Little for a sum of results about their reliability.

Luckily, all 3 services are more of the same as per the driver response rates to the time used by the app to notify a nearby driver. However, reliability of the services changes during on-peak hours where getting a driver becomes a hectic trap with less responses in time.

On the other hand, Bolt has 3 hailing options as Uber follows with 2 and Little with 1. Bolt Taxi, Bolt XL and Bolt Go are those packed to the former Taxify branded app as Uber drags Uber X and XL as its Taxi hailing options while Little features only 1 option branded as Basic to its app. So, Bolt gives you more choices as Little gives you all the choices in one package without phrasing car types.

The Best Service between Bolt, Uber, and Little

A great service is ranked by its trip costs, reliability and support response rate. In the Taxi hailing zone, we tried contacting customer lines of the 3 services and Uber was much responsive as compared to the remaining 2 services. In a like manner, Little cab as well shuffles up with the best rates during on-peak hours but loses to Uber due to its high Minimum fare of UGX 4500.

More so, only Uber and Little allow riders to request trips without necessarily having an app leaving Bolt out of the equation. In fact, this saves alot of space since you can choose to always rely on your phone browser to request trips instead of downloading a hailing app.

In summary, if you’re to compare the 3 popular services in Africa, you can barely skip the lines of Uber which beats Little by only having multiple hailing options of Uber X, XL, and Uber Boda coupled with a pile of rider benefits like Insurance on the Go. Other than that, Uber still rules as that low trip rates service beating its 2 competitors with only a minimum fare ditch to Little and reliability to Bolt.

Just like the way Facebook unveiled a Lite app and Twitter joined the league together with Instagram cruising in the same path. Uber Lite is just another simplified version of the old app which is still available for download from all app stores. As a matter of fact, it’s only a change of design between the two apps, but the functionalities remain unchanged.

According to Alon Lits, General Manager for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa. The Uber Lite app is simply a request well received from riders about a smaller copy of Uber. It is a reimagined app that hopes to enhance the riders experience and suite all movements from A to B whether in a taxi or a Boda pickup and probably minimizing the mobile network load with 2G internet speeds also usable.

Features of the new Uber Lite app

By the look of things, Uber Lite is the same original app dressed in a few twists to make it a little faster for users with an overall ap size of 4.3MB. However, as Uber joins SafeBoda in presenting a new design to riders,  here are the key features shipped to the new less demands Uber Lite app.

Light on your phone: Uber Lite is less than 5MB to download (that’s equivalent to just 3 selfies). A smaller app frees up space for actual selfies and other apps. And, with a 300-millisecond response time (literally the blink of the eye), the booking process is fast even in low connectivity.

Guided Pickups: Uber Lite guides users through the request experience by detecting their current location, so minimal typing is required. If it can’t detect your location because of GPS or network issues, it guides you to choose popular landmarks nearby such as the Ndere Cultural Centre (which is how most people in Uganda communicate their location).

Tap Over Type: Uber Lite makes picking your destination as easy as a tap of a button. Instead of typing where you are, you can choose a nearby point of interest. Additionally, the app stores the city’s top places so that even when you are offline, no network is needed for them to appear.

Maps On Demand: To keep the app light and fast, maps in Uber Lite are not loaded by default but are available with a tap when you need them.

Uber Lite Availability

The Uber LITE app is now available for download in Uganda and Tanzania joining Kenya and South Africa that shipped early previews of the app in January. Additionally, the app is a 4.3MB package as compared to the 40MB original version making it a great companion for Android Go owners as well. So, as Uber’s new LITE direction inks its competition spikes to the 2Wheel sector where SafeBoda has always ruled due to it’s easy to access and Zero data features. we shall try the app to see if it’s another LITE app worth to consider.

In Africa, Uber launched regional timely offers in Kampala and Nairobi with an Uber Air experience up in the skies. Well, the Bell Nexus is a hybrid nexus taxi unveiled at CES and ready to take shape with support from six tilting fans and wings for fast forward flight while cruising in the sky with top speeds of up to 150MPH a quarter fast like an Airbus A380. Take a look at the proclaimed Uber flying taxis for 2020 in this tweet by CNET below.

Bell Nexus flying taxi could hit the skies next year #CES2019 pic.twitter.com/C3p6LZeZU8

— CNET (@CNET) January 10, 2019

With a range of 150 miles cruising at the 150MPH top speed, the Bell nexus will ease the way ride-sharing apps are used around the world and possibly put a wide portion of road taxis to rest with a much easier and fun experience. Additionally, Bell is an Uber manufacturing partner and its flying taxis are the ride-sharing giant’s top priority.

Future of the Uber flying taxis

According to CNET, the Bell nexus flying taxis are planned to hit the sky by 2020 if all goes well in the Uber circles. However, Uber declined to confirm on the availability dates riders should expect to sit in one of these flying taxis at a time when self-driving cars have a new testing street in the United States. All we know for now, by 2020 Bell Nexus flying taxis will dominate Uber zones in all developed skies.

Now that Uber’s flying taxis have been unveiled as the newest innovations produced by Bell for Uber. The ride-sharing giant’s position will boost up if these are launched in Africa by the same year of manufacture since competitors like Taxify, Little, Mondo, and Lyft are teasing wider positions in 2019. Nonetheless, flying taxis are real and we are yet to see some of them take the sky in 2020 as ride sharing will take new heights all over the world.

Since making great strides in Africa, one that has remained constant with Uber is its Riders. Driver-partners all over the African continent attest to the fact that they interact with a diverse and unique range of Riders on a daily basis – which makes their time on the app even more interesting!

Each Rider brings their own unique identity and flavour – whether it’s the ones who ride shotgun striking up friendly banter with the driver-partner, or the ones who prefer the backseat to catch up on work, or even the ones who like the radio on… really loud,each one of them continues to contribute to Uber’s exciting journey.

Here are 10 types of Riders you’ll meet on an Uber trip – which of them are you?

The Navigator Pro

This Rider gives maps a run for their money, and is probably one of the driver-partner favourite type of Riders. This Rider knows alternative routes like the back of their hand and is a gem for when the main roads are backed up. With their insights on back-roads and shorter routes, you’ll zip past the traffic and still make that Monday meeting in Kampala. While driver-partners do have GPS, it’s always appreciated when a rider can provide an uncharted route that is both quick and effective.

The Human Wikipedia  

Some Riders prefer sitting in the front with the driver-partners, and these types usually strike up conversations about really interesting things. Like the best place to traditional cuisine in Kampala, or where to get really affordable mechanics in Kira town. This Rider is a treasure-trove of local information and makes sure that the trip is full of laughs and extremely useful information. Did someone say 5-stars?

The Auxcellent Rider

For some Riders, music defines the trip, and a great track, irrespective of the distance, will make it memorable. Whether it’s jamming to Mummy yo by Sheebah Karungi or Mbakooye by Eddy Kenzo this type of Rider wants to be in charge of the music on their trip and they often request for an aux cable. The music is usually so good that the driver-partner gets put in the mood for the weekend, whether it’s the weekend or not.

The Enterprise Mogul

For some Riders, Uber is a great way to support their business. Whether it means adding additional 3-minute stops to make quick deliveries to customers, or using the same feature to touch base with existing and prospective customers, this Rider is getting the best business support by riding on Uber. Cha-ching!

The Strong Silent Type

Some Riders get into an Uber and prefers to just spend time alone with their thoughts, without necessarily engaging in conversations. No radio, no ear plugs, no devices. These types of Riders, it seems, utilize their trips as a means to reboot and get their energy levels up – no there aren’t rude or brusque – they are just the strong silent type.

The life of the party

The club scene in Uganda has a life of its own, With a wide variety of clubs to choose from for a fun night out this rider is on the lookout for some fun and nothing will stop them. This rider is slaying from their outfit, makeup and hairstyle. This rider is most probably heading to either Nyondo club or Don’s club and is ready to paint the town red.

Front-seat rider

The citizens of Uganda are known for their friendliness, and many driver-partners reported that this was the most common rider. These type of riders are often overflowing with conversation, eager to get to know the driver-partner and also share in some experiences. Talking always eases the trip and makes it go quicker. It doesn’t hurt that being friendly and courteous to each other also improves ratings. Uber has recently challenged riders to take the #Frontseatchallenge where they encourage riders to get to know their drivers a little better – why not get involved?

The Back-seat business pro

Smart suit, snazzy shoes, catching up on emails or phone calls in the back seat while heading to a conference or a meeting –  sounds familiar? This rider is often so preoccupied with work- clicking away on the computer or tapping away on a device – that the driver-partner knows that they need all the quiet time they can get. Sometimes this Rider will also share great business insights that the driver-partners find useful – like the latest technology inventions, or investment information.

The Social Prefect

This type of Rider is similar to the life of the party – just that their social lifestyle is a lot more diverse. Singles fellowship on Sunday, book launches on Monday, Poetry readings on Tuesday, business dinners on Thursdays, club-hopping with friends on Fridays – for this Rider, Uber is the perfect accompaniment for their social and very busy lifestyle.

Oprah on Trip

Are you the warm, kind-hearted rider whose positive outlook on life will inspire everyone you come into contact with? From their many stories of struggle and triumph, these riders will provide you with your daily dose of motivational Monday. These riders sometimes even invite you to their church. Talk about food for the soul – anyone say amen?

With so many trips taking place every day, drivers and riders can always look forward to connecting with interesting riders and we are so excited to be a part of it!