Shaheer Ahmed
After Indrive and bykea seized the competition Uber exited the game from five major cities Islamabad, Multan, Karachi, Faisalabad, and Peshawar.
First to enter the ride-hailing service in 2016. Uber was the pioneer of transportation services online. Now stung by indrive previously known as indriver and bykea which entered the ride-hailing service rather recently. Uber has decided to shut down its operation in five major cities Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, and Multan. The only remaining city with uber operational is Lahore effective from 11 October 2022.
From now on if you try to use the uber app in the aforementioned cities you will be met with a notification:
Now the services are only available in Lahore, the Company says: “For the past five years, we are grateful to have been part of your everyday life to help you move around those five cities using the Uber app. See you in Lahore!”
Uber has also updated that there will be “new product launches”. Additionally, the drivers will also be compensated. The uber app suggests now using Careem instead of uber. Careem, a subsidiary of Uber acquired in 2019 is still working in all 11 cities. Both of them being solo market holders at the start tried to increase profitability by increasing commission and cutting down bonuses with drivers while also decreasing promotional rates for customers.
This correction model decreased the incentive for drivers as well as customers. The icing on the cake proved to be the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the overall ride-hailing services market. Indriver arrived in Pakistan in 2021. Introducing zero commission for drivers for the first time while at the same time uber was increasing its commission. Indrive also has a unique model where passengers can negotiate the fare with the driver. Indrive, recently rebranded, has been said to hold 80 % of the ride-hailing market. Bykea also entered the car category incentivizing drivers by having a zero commission. All these proved to be a major dent in terms of market share for uber.
However it’s not the end, uber is trying to manage the market through careem their subsidiary, and also by concentrating their efforts back on only one city is now decreasing commission-discounted rides available. All these incentives might prove worthy.
