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Uber planning to roll out matatus
Rank: Veteran Joined: 7/5/2010 Posts: 2,061 Location: Nairobi
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Lolest! wrote:quicksand wrote:Lolest! wrote:@drobos, why would a ma3 owner, driver, conductor sign up for this?
Why do you think the concept is targeted at conventional or current matatu owners? We are limiting our imagination here by applying our broken matatu model to this,...in fact, if Uber tries to emulate the matatu way of doing things, it is likely not to work.. Expanding on @Drobos idea, imagine this scenario ...its 5:30 pm, day over at Industrial Area for instance, people milling about, a prospective traveller enters his or her usual route, Industrial Area Street A to BuruBuru shopping center ..., and so do a few others, the Uber app aggregates people originating from one point and are terminating their journeys at different points along the same route, Shell, phase 5, buru centre ...it sees there is a quorum, may be 7 people are sufficient,...it generates a code for the route, lets call it a journey code and searches nearby to see if there are any vans available and publishes ...a driver signs up/activates the journey code and moves to the first pick up point .... See? Not hard at all. There will be challenges (legal and regulatory), and matatu owners will be rebel and be petulant to the ends of the earth, but the matatu industry will be disrupted....we are reaching a tipping point with this madness. Interesting @quicksand. The problem with ma3 trips is they don't work like cab trips. But I guess the premise of your argument is that carpooling will sort the passengers(correct). Issue is how to attract vehicle owners especially coz it has to be PSV? Return trips for your guy after dropping clients in Buru? This has been the main attraction in Uber(many trips & reduced dead mileage). But interesting idea. Would love to see it work BTW. Reminds me of these Nipe Lift guys we were discussing on another thread. http://www.wazua.co.ke/f...px?g=posts&m=853108
Indeed. The return trip and the PSV thing are challenges but not insurmountable ....for the return trip, the same 'pooling' concept might work,...the app would be doing the heavy lifting here by aggregating passengers travelling in the same direction through the same way points, and coalescing those passengers into 'a journey'...the viability/profitability of a journey and whether a driver picks it up is something that will be dependent on the driver and will be refined with time, data and practice ...surely even cab drivers sometimes move from one point to another without a fare if the other one has more prospects? The 'return' phase should work, even if it is less profitable or has no passengers ...the money should be made in the 'to' journey ... As for the incentive and PSV licensing, this can be done at a high level (Central Gove/NTSA). It will depend on how much opposing pressure (strikes by matatus/bribes changing hands/policy pressure by Uber etc etc  ). If their business projections see this as a serious growth and revenue area, Uber can push for a special PSV license that allows their vehicles to collect car-pooling passengers anywhere..town, within confines of posh estates, not- so-posh estates, govt and company facilities etc etc... Companies might even jump on this bandwagon and do the 'Uber for Business' version but with vans, where they entrust operators to ferry their employees to and from their offices. They will probably go this route first and require high quality vehicles and limited coverage to test the concept. That takes care of motivating people to invest in the venture. Of course, just thinking out loud here, but its all very doable!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 9/19/2015 Posts: 2,871 Location: hapo
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People get confused with Matatus. Matatus are just a private model for Public Transport. Uber is not going for that market. It's going for those who want to hail a cab. The only difference is that there shall be more people in a cab...Instead of 1 person, it's 7 people. Uber shall thrive here as they aren't constricted by gov't routes. When you think about it, matatus failed by sticking to public transport routes. Shauri yao. Hope they don't stone my Uber when I sign up. Thieves are not good people. Tumeelewana?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/26/2007 Posts: 6,514
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alma1 wrote:People get confused with Matatus. Matatus are just a private model for Public Transport.
Uber is not going for that market.
It's going for those who want to hail a cab. The only difference is that there shall be more people in a cab...Instead of 1 person, it's 7 people.
Uber shall thrive here as they aren't constricted by gov't routes. When you think about it, matatus failed by sticking to public transport routes.
Shauri yao. Hope they don't stone my Uber when I sign up. This is it. Traditional routes be damned...this new model is customisable based on where people are really travelling to and from. You pick and drop commuters en route. E.g. now you can prob go from Langata Road to Westlands direct via either highway or Mbagathi. For sure, there will be at least 7 guys to pick and drop along the way taking the same route. There is no need for return as from Westlands you may get guys going to Kilimani instead. Business opportunities are like buses,there's always another one coming
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 5/5/2011 Posts: 1,059
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KulaRaha wrote:alma1 wrote:People get confused with Matatus. Matatus are just a private model for Public Transport.
Uber is not going for that market.
It's going for those who want to hail a cab. The only difference is that there shall be more people in a cab...Instead of 1 person, it's 7 people.
Uber shall thrive here as they aren't constricted by gov't routes. When you think about it, matatus failed by sticking to public transport routes.
Shauri yao. Hope they don't stone my Uber when I sign up. This is it. Traditional routes be damned...this new model is customisable based on where people are really travelling to and from. You pick and drop commuters en route. E.g. now you can prob go from Langata Road to Westlands direct via either highway or Mbagathi. For sure, there will be at least 7 guys to pick and drop along the way taking the same route. There is no need for return as from Westlands you may get guys going to Kilimani instead. I don't know why i remembered this, during the Kibaki time there was a national event at Nyayo, a friend was there and when leaving they got on to a Noah with tinted windows for 20 bob from Nyayo to town, only to find armed thugs inside, they were silently robbed and then dropped off one by one between uhuru park and kangemi, my guy was dropped off at CCK bare foot as hos sahara were confiscated, So the uber idea is great but security should be checked. To Each His Own
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/28/2015 Posts: 9,562 Location: Rodi Kopany, Homa Bay
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Uber trucks would be a better idea to connect those with cargo to lorry owners.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/26/2007 Posts: 6,514
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kayhara wrote:KulaRaha wrote:alma1 wrote:People get confused with Matatus. Matatus are just a private model for Public Transport.
Uber is not going for that market.
It's going for those who want to hail a cab. The only difference is that there shall be more people in a cab...Instead of 1 person, it's 7 people.
Uber shall thrive here as they aren't constricted by gov't routes. When you think about it, matatus failed by sticking to public transport routes.
Shauri yao. Hope they don't stone my Uber when I sign up. This is it. Traditional routes be damned...this new model is customisable based on where people are really travelling to and from. You pick and drop commuters en route. E.g. now you can prob go from Langata Road to Westlands direct via either highway or Mbagathi. For sure, there will be at least 7 guys to pick and drop along the way taking the same route. There is no need for return as from Westlands you may get guys going to Kilimani instead. I don't know why i remembered this, during the Kibaki time there was a national event at Nyayo, a friend was there and when leaving they got on to a Noah with tinted windows for 20 bob from Nyayo to town, only to find armed thugs inside, they were silently robbed and then dropped off one by one between uhuru park and kangemi, my guy was dropped off at CCK bare foot as hos sahara were confiscated, So the uber idea is great but security should be checked. Are Uber cabs robbing you right now? You're not going to panda a random car...it will be app based with details. Business opportunities are like buses,there's always another one coming
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/26/2007 Posts: 6,514
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hardwood wrote:Uber trucks would be a better idea to connect those with cargo to lorry owners. Another good idea, I thought they had already implemented this somewhere? Business opportunities are like buses,there's always another one coming
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Rank: Member Joined: 9/25/2008 Posts: 510
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Doable with attitude shift, Uber drivers currently can fix a route and price thus priority is given to the driver for customers say from Westlands to JKIA, the only thing remaining is to allow more than one client booking upto the capacity of the Noah, Voxys, Honda stream etc I AM trust in GOD, I AM belief in THYSELF
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/9/2009 Posts: 6,592 Location: Nairobi
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T-Bag wrote:Doable with attitude shift,
Uber drivers currently can fix a route and price thus priority is given to the driver for customers say from Westlands to JKIA, the only thing remaining is to allow more than one client booking upto the capacity of the Noah, Voxys, Honda stream etc And just like that the job of a makanga will be no more. Of course there will be room for descent buses too and a metro line if they ever build one.
BBI will solve it :)
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Rank: Member Joined: 3/19/2013 Posts: 344
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T-Bag wrote:Doable with attitude shift,
Uber drivers currently can fix a route and price thus priority is given to the driver for customers say from Westlands to JKIA, the only thing remaining is to allow more than one client booking upto the capacity of the Noah, Voxys, Honda stream etc I think they can allow more than one client. We have uber pool (more passengers are added along the route) and uber pool express (all passengers meet at a central point and are dropped of at a central point). For a regular Uber driver these rides are a time suck and waste of money but maybe they will work in a matatu type scenario.
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Uber planning to roll out matatus
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