Janet Kemboi, Uber East Africa Spokesperson. File Photo | NMG
Nairobi – Online taxi-hailing firm Uber has started charging a waiting fee on its riders to compensate drivers where they are made to wait by customers for lengthy periods.
On driver’s arrival, Uber will send a notification to the rider advising that the per-minute charge will apply after the allowed first five minutes of waiting.
Uber East Africa spokesperson Janet Kemboi said the fee is intended to encourage riders to request a taxi when they are ready to go.
“The waiting charges will be added to the receipt where an upfront fare is quoted and when there is a surge the wait time fees will increase as well,” she said.
Uber has also introduced a “share trip” feature for the drivers to enable friends and family to keep track of their location, a function that was previously available to riders only.
The in-app chat also introduced months ago, makes communication for the driver and rider easy.
“We are committed to ensuring that both riders and drivers are always happy with the entire Uber experience.
“Because of this, we will be rolling out several changes and improvements to the driving experience over the next few weeks.
“These are all changes that driver-partners have requested, and we hope that you enjoy the next leg of this smoother journey,” said Uber in a statement.
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Since the beginning of the year, Uber has introduced new features to its app including a security feature that runs real-time security checks every time drivers go online, to protect their accounts from fraudsters and boost the safety of riders using its service.
