Tanzanian’s Land and Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) has restored the 25% commission of ride-hailing services after capping it at 15% nine months ago.
The transport authority capped commissions of ride-hailing apps like Bolt and Uber at 15% due to pressure from local drivers who felt they were being shortchanged.
But LATRA has now repealed its former policy and re-instituted the 25% commission fees instead.
Across Africa—in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana—drivers of ride-hailing apps have protested the high commission fees by the operators of the app. In April 2022, Tanzania—in response to protests from its drivers—instituted a 15% cap on all commissions from ride-hailing apps.
This meant Bolt could no longer charge its 20% fee and Uber its 25% fee.
The cap was welcomed by drivers, but it also forced ride-hailing apps like Uber to exit the country while Bolt restricted its product offerings to corporate clients only.
As they paused their services, the operators engaged the regulatory authority to fight what they termed a “non-sustainable” policy. In September, Tanzania announced that it had reached a middle ground with the operators, and shortly after, Bolt resumed full operations in Tanzania.
All the players are coming back.
Effective Sunday, all ride-hailing operators in Tanzania can charge commission fees up to 25%. Per TechCrunch, Uber is set to resume its operations in Tanzania.
In response to the new commission cap, Bolt has announced it’ll review fare prices soon, but the new cap is likely to be ill-received by Tanzanian drivers. It’s also likely to influence more lobbying from mobility operators in Kenya who are fighting an 18% commission cap instituted by Kenya’s National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA).
