Uber has introduced a premium service called Uber Comfort tailored to cater to customers’ unique preferences in Nairobi.
- •Customers using Uber Comfort will enjoy seven minutes of waiting time as opposed to five minutes allotted to the other ride options.
- •The service will be charged at 5% higher than other existing options such as Uber X.
- •Only drivers with new vehicles-from 2015 onwards-will be registered for the service.
When hailing a ride on the app, customers opting for Uber Comfort can set their preferred temperature which drivers would adjust to before picking them up and specify if they want a silent ride or a conversational one. Other than the year of manufacture, the initial phase of the service will not consider ratings when approving eligible drivers. “As time goes by, additional thresholds like inspection could be introduced. This ensures that a car is in good condition. But we are currently limiting the eligibility requirements to cars newer than 2015,” said the Uber head of communications Lorraine Onduru.
At the launch of the new product at the company’s headquarters on Mar 6, Imran also stated that ‘Uber Comfort’ is an opportunity for drivers with newer cars to earn more cash. Last year Uber saw an increase of 10.96% in business trips. “The commission that drivers earn at Uber is based on product demand,” said the head of Uber East Africa Imran Manji, “We are optimistic that if more customers choose our new product, drivers will be happy with their earnings per kilometer rate.”
On the continent, Uber Comfort is available in South Africa, Ghana, and Ivory Coast but the service has existed since 2019 in the U.S. market. In Nairobi, they will be limited to fuel-powered cars due to what the ride hailing company attributes to delays within the larger ecosystem that includes the government and manufacturers.