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Tag: Uber

  • With leadership and tech support, Nigerian youth can drive beyond Uber, By Okoh Aihe

    With leadership and tech support, Nigerian youth can drive beyond Uber, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    There is something about the Bible that makes it the bestseller of all time. Very profound. With journeys into the past and projections into the future, holding out the mysteries of life as it mocks man to provide understanding. The depth is unsearchable, that is what it says, but that depth in a blaze of metaphor provides the light that brightens the way ahead.

    There is this scripture that resonates in my head all the time. In a message to his father’s friend, King Hiram, King of Tyre, after studying his father’s notes matched with the reality around him, King Solomon said: “But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune.”

    Each time I think of the scripture I think of an administration that has worked, building a country for their progeny; I think of parents that have had to dig deep, including putting derelicts together to create a great country; leaders that deny self to build the future so that the ones on the way will not have to scrape in the cesspool of life. This is a leadership interpretation and leadership provides the plank that leads to failure or success.

    Not in the manner of our practice today. We have had too much of leadership that provides for self and little for the people. The country is wretched, yet there is too much money going into nothingness, projects convoluting into a future that looks too incapacitated to pay its debts. The auguries look ominous but we must have to create hope, not the type wrapped in falsehood, fear and forlornness.

    I am in the back of an Uber car. Each time this happens, which is fairly regular, I have the opportunity to dream with my eyes open, about life that should have been but which is fast disappearing, about a past that was very fulfilling with great parentage and great teachers and great books which influenced life, about a future that looks very bleak for many, for the majority whose fatal sin is being born in a blessed country whose leadership have continued to mismanage her potentials.

    My mind is back to the Uber driver. He returned with two Masters Degrees to his country to contribute to building his nation; just like the other fella the other day, he too came with a lot of dreams, but their country has no place for them. In fact, it can accommodate only a few, the privileged from a part of the country with a splash of those from rich homes or other connected political families. The rest will have to do Uber which seems divinely provided now, while others will have to fight for slots in regional security groups being proposed. Yet, many more with PhDs are pursuing federal government’s N20, 000 job. At least, one newspaper headlined last week that Four PhD, 200 Master’s holders were among those scrambling for the FG’s 774,000 unskilled jobs. This is their reality, their dreams perfunctorily suspended by leaders they trusted with their votes.

    This Uber driver is even lucky. He has a car to drive and still looks respectable. In some parts of the world, the Uber work is an after-work endeavor to support earnings from your full time job. But here it is the real thing and governments even make life more difficult for them with all kinds of taxes. And the guys are happy with their share of the fare.

    I once saw a phrase like the Uber generation. But who can help our Uber generation dream the kind of big dreams that conquer the world? Is this asking for too much?

    “See Paris and Die” conjures so many feelings in people, including the surface interpretation beyond the pulsating street life and creative and historical references of the city famed for beauty and Eiffel Tower. Writers cherish that phrase traced to Soviet citizen, Ilya Ehrenburg. But when Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp met in Paris one snowing evening of 2009, they were least concerned about the beauty of the city or a mortality laced in fatal attraction. They were faced with a problem that forced them to think. “What if you could request a ride simply by tapping your phones?” A seed for the birth of an octopus of company was born. The resulting organization is Uber, an app that connects drivers with riders, which operates in over 65 countries, including Nigeria and China, and 600 cities worldwide. Favoured by an environment which encourages people to hit the sky in flight, Uber has revolutionized the ride-hailing industry. The organization has struggled with its internal and external fights and contradictions, and has overcome them all. By 2018 when Uber went public on the New York Stock Exchange it had a market cap of $75.5bn. Even while displaying strength over its various headaches, there are no indications that Uber has been hurt or ready to slow down. Instead other services are being introduced or at the point of introduction. They include: Grocery by Uber, Uber Rush – bicycle delivery service in Manhattan, UberPool, UberX and UberElevate – air transport into urban transport using VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft. This will especially be good for cities like Lagos if the politicians will not hamstring it with a cocktail of politics.

    One good thing about the ride-hailing business is that it is not built on rocket science. With a mobile terminal featuring the app, a Google map and some other location features, a business is in place. This is by way of oversimplifying the mystery of the business. So, there is Lyft and Bolt (Taxify), all providing convenience and flexibility for riders and drivers but with patronage depending on trust.

    What is the common feature in the narrative that may have grown hackneyed by now? Technology. And the mobile handset provides the introduction to a story that has changed the world. When Uber China and Didi Chuxing merged in 2016, the deal was sealed at $35bn. Pray, what is your national budget? And please I am not trying to compare our national budget to the net worth of a business formed on a cold street.

    My point of interest is that a number of soft businesses depend on the mobile network to be activated. This is the reason it must become collective interest for the telecommunications sector to work at its optimum. Whatever stands against or threatens that sector should be seen as a threat to the collective interest of the people and be deracinated immediately. Were the media to be used to gauge success, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, would have a perfect score, as he is more active in the media dressing up legacy projects than focus on policy issues that should nuance the telecommunications sector.

    Leadership is everything. President Muhammadu Buhari should ensure that what is happening in the telecommunications sector goes beyond the razz-dazzle, some level of orchestrated showmanship which, unfortunately, cannot hold up the white paint poured on a collapsing sepulcher.

    Leadership is everything. Examples abide in other climes. At the peak of COVID-19, a member of the Dubai Smart City testified at a Zoom conference coordinated by the Dubai World Trade Centre, how the Dubai leader put the power of his office behind the speedy rollout of 5G which has become very useful to the city of audacious dreams. Deploying 5G technology, one operator was able to monitor the movement of traffic, notice people were moving away from the business districts to residential areas, and be able to refocus signals on those areas. That is one mystery of 5G, pinpoint signals to areas of highest demand.

    Also within the period, President Donald Trump of the United States of America gave a very vehement charge to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the need to quickly rollout 5G technology, declaring that the deployment is a war America must win. Quite a number of people must be freaked out with his fight with China’s Huawei but you can’t ever accuse him of doing nothing, of being indolent in, or juberous about providing leadership.

    The Nigerian Uber driver bearing the metaphor of the youth is not lazy. He has his dreams, of a future full of life, of a home with wife and children seated around him, of a life in a city or rustic environment where public power doesn’t go off, so that even if he cannot experience life on the shimmering streets of Dubai where the new arriviste in Nigeria go to buy luxury flats, he can at least watch their documented debauchery and buffoonery on television.

    Leadership. A more articulate leadership. The Nigerian Uber driver will be up flying. Emblematic of the youth, he is not a cannon folder destined for flaring in political wars during elections. For me, technology is the trigger, a short cut to appropriating his frothing energies, and a short cut to a glorious future coloured with the kind of sheen we see only on television. There was a tipping point in telecommunications over a decade ago. It is time to work towards another.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

     

  • E-hailing: Lagos reduces licence fee for taxify, uber operators, introduces N20 per trip charges

    E-hailing: Lagos reduces licence fee for taxify, uber operators, introduces N20 per trip charges

    Lagos State government on Friday reversed the 10 percent service charge it planned to impose on every trip made through e-hailing platforms like Uber and Bolt.

    The Commissioner for Transport, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, said the state government has reached an agreement with operators to now charge N20 per trip instead of 20 per cent of the charges for each trip. He stated that the N20 per trip charges would be housed under the Road Improvement Fund.

    Oladeinde also revealed that the state has approved 20 per cent reduction in the operating and renewal license fees, aside drivers completing their documentation within the next 90 days, adding that commencement date for the implementation of the regulations on the operators has been postponed by a week to August 27, 2020.

    The new regulations were earlier scheduled to take effect in March but was postponed to August 20 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Under the new regulation, third-party operators like Uber and Bolt that have over 1000 drivers on their platforms will pay ₦25 million licencing fee and ₦10 million annual renewal fee.

    Those that have less than 1000 drivers will pay a licensing fee of ₦10 million and an annual renewal fee of ₦5 million if they have less than 1000 drivers.

    Operators who directly own their cars and employ their drivers will pay only the license fee of ₦5 million if such operators have below 50 drivers. Those who have over 50 drivers will pay ₦10 million for the operating license.

    The president of the National Union of Professional App-Based Workers Ayoade Ibrahim told newsmen on Monday that the new regulations put a heavy burden on the drivers and expose them to the whims of ride-hailing companies.

    However, the commissioner said the new twist in the regulations was agreed upon after the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu along with some executive council members held a meeting with e-hailing operators.

    He added that the documents the drivers should acquire include the Lagos State Registration Agency card, drivers license, among other documents, saying drivers who failed to comply would be banned from operating among other penalties.

    He further said that a one-stop-shop had been created to ensure that the drivers all the required documents easily.

    Oladeinde revealed that it was also agreed that the operators should take comprehensive insurance for each vehicle, while the driver takes a third party insurance.

  • REVEALED: Story behind LASU graduate, Toju Daibo who jumped into Lagos Lagoon [+Photo]

    REVEALED: Story behind LASU graduate, Toju Daibo who jumped into Lagos Lagoon [+Photo]

    The identity of the 22-year-old man who was reported to have jumped into the Lagos Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge on 16 February has been made public by the mother.

    Mr Toju Davies Daibo, jumped into the lagoon from the bridge inward Adeniji Adele, after alighting from an Uber, complaining of stomach issues. His body has not been found since.

    His mother has appealed to the government to find her son alive or dead, according to an interview she granted Channels Television.

    According to her, Toju has no history of depression or drug use; he had just finished studying quantity surveying from the Lagos State University and was looking forward to his NYSC and then his master’s degree studies in Canada.

    His family is calling for any information from security agencies so they can have some closure on the incident, Channels TV reported.

    Davies hired an Uber from Gbagada on 16 February.
    While the driver was transporting him to his destination, he asked him to stop and park on the bridge because he claimed to have a stomach ache and he wanted to relieve himself.

    The Uber driver was stunned when Davies jumped into the lagoon.

    The incident happened at about 10am.
    Rescue operation mounted by Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, has not produced the body yet.

  • Man to die by hanging for killing Uber driver

    Man to die by hanging for killing Uber driver

    The High Court of the Federal High Court in Nyanya, Abuja on Thursday sentenced one Obinna Echianu to death for killing an Uber driver identified as Edwin Ali in Abuja on December 26, 2016.

    Delivering judgment, Justice Peter Kekemeke convicted 42-year-old Echianu for armed robbery and culpable homicide.

    But the judge discharged and acquitted Echanu’s co-accused, Everly Nnorom, 27, for lack of evidence.

    The police had instituted five counts of conspiracy, armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms and culpable homicide against the two men.

    However, convicting Echianu of the offences on Thursday, the judge held that the police proved counts of armed robbery and culpable homicide against him beyond reasonable doubt against him.

    “The first defendant is therefore sentenced to death by hanging on each of the counts,” Justice Kekemeke held.

    The police had alleged that Echianu and Nnorom, who was acquitted on Thursday, conspired to rob the deceased Edward Ali beside Goza pedestrian bridge, Airport Road, Abuja, at about 7pm on December 16, 2016.

    The prosecution alleged that the two men allegedly armed with a revolver pistol and 33 live ammunition shot and killed Ali.

    But while the court believed Nnorom’s defence ending in his acquittal, it dismissed Echianu’s defence and was convicted and sentenced to death on Thursday.

  • Reps ban unpainted taxis in Abuja, move to regulate Uber, Bolt

    The house of representatives has banned the operation of unpainted taxis in the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja.

    At Wednesday’s plenary session, the lower legislative chamber also asked the FCT authorities to commence registration, regulation and licensing of all probate and corporate commercial vehicles in the city.

    The lawmakers said the failure to regulate taxis in Abuja exposes commuters to security risks.

    The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion introduced by Leke Abejide from Kogi state.

    The action comes amid similar moves by Lagos state government to regulate the operations of corporate commercial vehicles such as Uber and Bolt.

    The lawmakers said they were worried that the operations of taxi cabs and commercial vehicles in the FCT is largely unregulated and inefficiently administered.

    They said such challenge gives room for many private vehicle owners to engage in taxi operations, thereby “exposing commuters to incidents of kidnappings and several other risks that come with unlicensed taxi operations”.

    They said unlike the case in Abuja, most developed cities of the world have their taxi operations well regulated, with only painted cabs approved for legal commercial vehicle operations.

    The green chamber subsequently asked the FCT administration and the Federal Road Safety Corps to enforce the ban on unpainted and unlicensed taxi operations within the city.

  • 464 women raped on Uber

    Uber, the ride-hailing service, has released its highly-anticipated safety report, which revealed 464 incidents of rape in two years in the United States alone.

    In total, there were 5,981 reports of sexual assault in 2017 and 2018,

    In 2018, more than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during its U.S. rides.

    That figure includes 229 rapes across the company’s 1.3 billion rides.

    In 2017, the company counted 2,936 reported sexual assaults during 1 billion U.S. trips. Uber bases its numbers on reports from riders and drivers, meaning the actual numbers could be much higher. Sexual assaults commonly go unreported.

    The company noted that drivers and riders were both attacked, and that some assaults occurred between riders.

    The Thursday report, which Uber UBER, touted as the first of its kind, provides a rare look into the traffic deaths, murders and reported sexual assaults that took place during billions of annual rides arranged in the U.S. using Uber’s service. It is part of the company’s effort to be more transparent after years of criticism over its safety record.

    “I suspect many people will be surprised at how rare these incidents are; others will understandably think they’re still too common,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted about the report. “Some people will appreciate how much we’ve done on safety; others will say we have more work to do. They will all be right.”

    Uber’s share price dropped more than 1% in after-hours trading.

    Uber and competitor Lyft LYFT, have faced harsh criticism for not doing enough to protect the safety of their riders and drivers. Dozens of women are suing Lyft, claiming the company should have done more to protect them from driver assaults. A Connecticut woman sued Uber last month, claiming she was sexually assaulted by her driver.

  • Choked roads: Uber targets Lagos with boat service

    Uber has said it is in talks with Lagos state regulators about providing a transport system on the city’s waterways as a way of bypassing its choked roads.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Uber’s Chief Business Officer, Brooks Entwistle made this known on Thursday during an interview.

    “We are looking at the waterways here, which are very interesting to us as it relates to a potential service.

    “We did launch Uber Boat in Mumbai and we have watched the product develop. It’s in its early stages and we think there is high relevance here,” Entwistle said.

    Uber began operations in Nigeria in July 2014, beginning with the commercial capital Lagos, a megacity of around 20 million inhabitants built on a lagoon, that is beset by heavy traffic congestion.

    The Uber executive, who described Lagos as “one of the great growth opportunity cities in the world”, said the company has held discussions with regulators in the city, and also with a bus firm, adding that discussions were at an early stage.

    He said the talks were in line with a global push by the company to develop products that can work alongside public transit systems.

    Entwistle said the combination of population growth and congestion made Lagos attractive.

    The United Nations predicts that Nigeria’s population will more than double to 400 million by 2050, which would make it the third most populous country in the world after China and India.

    Uber faces stiff competition in Nigeria from Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt, which until early 2019 was called Taxify.

    Bolt has grabbed business largely by taking a smaller cut from drivers using its app.

    A number of motorcycle ride-hailing firms, including Gokada, have also targeted Lagos state in the last few months.

  • Uber set to increase fares from Monday

    Uber set to increase fares from Monday

    Uber passengers will be charged an extra £1 for journeys in London’s congestion zone from next week.

    The popular taxi service said that the additional funds will contribute to the £11.50 daily fee its drivers must pay when entering the congestion zone in the city centre.

    From Monday, a £1 surcharge will be added to all trips that enter the busy central zone, even though the charge only applies between 7am and 6pm on weekdays.

    Passengers using Uber Pool, the car-sharing service, or wheelchair accessible vehicles will be exempt from the fee, however.

    A spokesperson for Uber said: “The central London fee, adding £1 to trips in the capital, will go directly to drivers to help them cover the new congestion charge.

    “By exempting Uber Pool trips, we will help reduce traffic and toxicity in London. “We share many of the same goals as the cities that we serve and are committed to addressing the same challenges: reducing individual car ownership, expanding transport access and tackling air pollution.”

    Monday 8 April will also see the launch of the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ).

    The initiative has been introduced in an effort to reduce the capital’s toxic levels of air pollution.

    Deadly gases and particulates in the air have been linked to thousands of premature deaths across the country and the capital is one of the worst affected areas.

  • Uber drivers to receive $20m pay in legal battle settlement

    Ride-hailing firm, Uber has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit brought by drivers nearly six years ago.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the settlement is coming after the drivers filed new settlement agreement in a federal court in San Francisco late on Monday night.

    Uber drivers had argued in the lawsuit that they are employees, not independent contractors, as Uber has classified them, and therefore entitled to certain wage protections and reimbursement for their expenses.

    The settlement amount is one-fifth of the settlement offer Uber proposed in 2016 to resolve the case, valued at up to $100 million, which US District Judge Edward Chen at the time rejected as inadequate.

    A California Supreme Court ruling last year made it much more difficult for companies like Uber to argue that their drivers are independent contractors, a decision that poses a threat to Uber’s business model.

    In a statement, an Uber spokesman said “Uber has changed a lot since 2013,” and highlighted new programs and technology improvements to help drivers.

    “We’re pleased to reach a settlement on this matter and we’ll continue working hard to improve the quality, security and dignity of independent work,” the spokesman said.

    The settlement covers drivers in California and Massachusetts who drove for Uber from August 2009 through February of this year, according to the filing.

     

  • German court rules Uber limousine service illegal

    The Federal Court of Justice in Germany on Thursday has upheld lower-court rulings, handing down a final judgment to rule that a defunct limousine service, Uber Black, offered by Uber was illegal.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the federal court passed the judgment in favour of a complaint brought by a Berlin taxi business that the so-called Uber Black service had violated German laws governing car rentals.

    Responding to the judgment, Uber said it had taken Uber Black out of service in 2014, adding that the services it now operates in four German cities complied with the law.

    “This ruling has no impact on our current services in Germany as we changed our operating model more than four years ago.

    “We will continue to engage with local stakeholders as we develop services that address Germany’s growing transportation needs and shape the future of urban mobility in a responsible way,” the company said in a statement.

    Two lower courts had banned the Uber Black service based on the complaint brought by a Berlin taxi operator, Richard Leipold.

    He had argued that its operations should be covered by laws covering car rentals. These require a car to return to its base after each trip and for trips to be awarded by a dispatcher. Taxis, by contrast, can accept orders directly.

    Establishing an important principle, the federal court found that Uber was subject to German transportation laws, dismissing arguments that European Union rules governing the provision of services should apply.