Ride-hailing platform, Uber, has pulled out of Tanzania after ten years by notifying users via its app that rides would no longer be available in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma, Mwanza, or Zanzibar.
- •At the center of Uber’s departure lies a prolonged standoff with Tanzania’s Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA), whose rules have steadily narrowed the operating space for digital mobility platforms.
- •The regulator’s insistence on treating ride-hailing apps as conventional taxi services, complete with fixed fares, capped commissions, and direct oversight of commercial terms ultimately proved incompatible with Uber’s business model.
- •Uber’s core advantage globally has been its ability to price rides, deploy incentives, and adjust commissions in real time to balance supply and demand.
In 2022, LATRA imposed a 15% cap on commissions that platforms could charge drivers, well below Uber’s global average of about 25%. Regulators also introduced guide fares and minimum prices per kilometer and per minute, effectively banning surge pricing. For Uber, that eliminated its primary tool for managing peak demand and driver availability.
Without pricing flexibility, the company struggled to fund promotions, driver bonuses, and discounts that typically fuel growth in emerging markets. What remained was a stripped-down platform operating under cost controls set not by market conditions but by regulatory decree.
From the regulator’s perspective, the measures were aimed at protecting drivers from exploitation and shielding consumers from fare volatility.
Due to the 2022 regulations, the company briefly suspended operations in Tanzania but resumed in early 2023 after regulators temporarily allowed higher commission rates. By 2026, restrictions had tightened again, returning the platform to a low-margin, low-flexibility model that executives appear to have concluded was no longer worth defending.
The episode mirrors Uber’s retreat from Côte d’Ivoire in 2025 and echoes earlier exits from other heavily regulated markets. Many drivers are now left with fewer options, forced back into informal taxi markets or smaller platforms with limited reach.
Local competitors such as Little (which is also available in Kenya) are expected to benefit, in part because they are structurally more adaptable to LATRA’s framework. However, Uber’s capital depth, technology stack, or international rider base remain unbeatable.
In Kenya, the clash between cab drivers and mobility app firms has never been fully resolved. The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) capped ride commissions at 18% but many drivers have maintained dissatisfaction.
Industrial action has been largely unsuccessful due to the lack of effective unionization and nature of the gig economy. This has translated to uncouth practices like drivers harassing customers to pay more than the app has calculated or disrupting other cab drivers who work during strikes.
To address financial challenges, app companies have attempted to introduce driver incentives but this has done little to quell growing discontent among some cab drivers.
