Egyptian bus-hailing service Swvl has announced plans to shut its intra city rides in the country effective Friday, June 3, citing tough economic times.
The firm which has operated since July 2019 also suspended the city to city services from May 30 and will only operate the Business service which caters to corporations, organisations and private entities.
“In light of the global economic downturn , we are pausing our Swvl Daily intra – city rides in Nairobi next Friday the 3rd of June , 2022. And Swvl Travel on Sunday the 30th of May , 2022,” the firm said in a statement.
The company was operating in the country with three different solutions Swvl Daily, tailored for intra-city rides in Nairobi, Swvl Travel tailored for city-to-city rides and Swvl Business tailored for business-to-business rides.
In 2020 the company had rolled out a service allowing commuters to use the platform for long-distance travel in Kenya.
The new service offered commuters the opportunity to book and pay for their upcountry trips through the company’s app to over 12 destinations including Naivasha, Nakuru, Molo, Eldoret, Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Kisii, Kisumu, Nyeri, Nanyuki and Machakos.
The firm has also announced plans to reduce its workforce by 32 per cent in a number of countries as part of its plan to become profitable by 2023.
“Today, with the current global economic downturn, as much as we did everything we could to put people first, we now know that we are not able to keep everyone unimpacted. We know we have to make tough decisions in order to prioritize profitability overgrowth to ensure that the firm thrives once we are on the other side of this,” the frim’s CEO Mostafa Kandil said in a letter sent to employees and partners.
Read also; Moove Partners with SWVL for Electric Buses Financing.