Traditional taxis fight for survival as dozens of digital cabs crowd Nakuru

Joseph Mbugua Ngugi, the chairman for traditional taxis in Nakuru town (PHOTO Harun Wathari)

Joseph Mbugua, the chairman for the traditional taxi operators dubbed Mega Cabs in Nakuru, arrived to work on Saturday, hoping to get the best deal to end his week.

While at their designated taxi zone along Kenyatta Avenue, a client who wanted to be dropped in Nairobi approached him. Mbugua charged the client Sh8,000 down from Sh10,000 in the previous years.

The client however offered Sh5,000 at the highest and as they negotiated, a digital taxi driver pulled over next to them. He offered a lower price.

“I was shocked when the digital taxi driver set his charges at Sh4,000. The client left me and they drove off. At that point I realised our traditional taxis are doomed,” said Mbugua.

Mbugua has been in the taxi business for over 20 years and intimated that they have never faced challenges as they do now, following the upsurge of taxis operating under various taxi-hailing applications.

Most of the traditional taxis have a bigger engine capacity of over 1,500cc while the digital cabs have an engine capacity of about 600cc.

With low fuel consumption, the digital cabs engineered price wars - threatening to push the traditional cabs out of business.

“They have brought the normal charges down to almost a quarter. In places where we used to charge Sh1,000, they are comfortable being paid Sh300. Our vehicles have higher fuel consumption and we can’t manage that,” said Mbugua.

Wasili Cabs was the pioneer digital cabs firm to venture into Nakuru, followed by Safiri Cabs. As the two gained popularity in the town, they opened doors for more online cabs that have crowded the agricultural town.

Parking lots

The popularity of these new branded cabs is seen as one walks through the parking lots where out of every ten cars one cannot miss them.

“We are now competing for space in town. We have our own designated slots. However we have been clashing with the digital cabs operators who insist on using space that we have paid for to the county government,” said Mbugua.The conventional cabs pay Sh2,000 each for parking monthly while most of the digital cabs pay for parking on the need to need basis.

Digital cabs are also uniquely branded and are easily identifiable thus attracting more customers, unlike the traditional taxis.

Founders of the digital cabs recently raised concerns over their drivers operating offline. The seasoned taxi operators are however yet to give up their market to the newbies and are strategising on how to survive.

“We lost many customers to lack of branding. After realising the new entrants are mostly operating offline we branded a few cars but with no mobile application. Through this we have been able to counter the competition better,” said Sammy Kinuthia, another operator.

The traditional taxi operators are also banking on clients whose destination is remote or rough terrain unsuitable for smaller digital cabs.

“There are areas where the 600cc cars cannot access and they end up leaving clients along the way. They are designed to operate on the tarmac. Clients destined for areas with rough terrain still prefer our bigger cars,” said Kinuthia.

Profit margins

Clients with heavier baggage also prefer the bigger cars.

With reduced profit margins, some of the operators have quit the business as others hire their vehicles at between Sh3,000 and Sh5,000 daily. Some have left the sector after their cars were auctioned. “As we fight for market space, some of our members have quit. Some vehicles have been repossessed by banks while others are hiring their vehicles per day or per hour,” said Kinuthia.

Operators now want the county to moot by-laws to regulate the sector in a bid to accommodate them. The flooding of the sector with hundreds of digital cabs has forced indigenous taxis to operate for long distances - creating a conflict with matatus.

“We don’t want them out of business but there is a need to regulate them. Those registered as digital cabs should stick to their lane. They should also be restricted to town service where they are best suited,” said Kinuthia. Some digital cabs charge low fares as bodabodas and tuk-tuks.