Pakistan

Uber exits five cities including Karachi

Ride-hailing app also discontinues services in Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar; drivers can switch to Careem

Usman Hanif October 11, 2022

KARACHI:

Ride-hailing services, Uber, has decides to cease its operations in five major cities of Pakistan, including Karachi and Islamabad, the company said on Tuesday in a move that will reduce market overlap between the US firm and its Middle East unit Careem.

The Uber Technologies Inc said in a statement it would also discontinue its ride-hailing services app in Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar, adding however that its operations would continue in Lahore, where the company plans to launch new products.

The change comes in effect immediately. The company said drivers and riders in the five cities could switch to the app run by Careem, the Dubai-based company it purchased for $3.1 billion in 2019 to dominate the ride-hailing markets in the Middle East and Pakistan.

“When we acquired Careem, it was always our belief that the two companies could come together to complement each other’s strengths and better serve the region through tailored experiences,” the company’s statement said.

“In my view, they want to kill the competition in market as they both are actually the same, so Uber will manage the market with Careem,” said start-up funding expert Kapeel Kumar.

Parvez Iftikhar, former CEO of the Universal Service Fund Pakistan (USF-P) said that Uber’s exited because of intense competition – especially the competition from InDriver, whose business model was proving to be more successful.

The company invested approximately $100 million and created over 800,000 income opportunities for captains and had a customer base of 9 million. Apart from market-dominating Careem, Bykea is also running similar operations.

InDriver, the international ride-hailing service with over 100 million users worldwide, has become Pakistan’s most downloaded app. InDriver’s unique model allows passengers to negotiate fare of their ride with nearby drivers.

The exit comes amid economic crunch exacerbated by devastating floods this summer that killed more than 1,700 and caused an estimated $30 billion in damage. Uber said it would prioritise minimising the impact to its employees, drivers, riders, and partners who use the Uber app during this change.

(WITH INPUT FROM REUTERS)

COMMENTS (2)

Muhammad Riaz Khan | 2 years ago | Reply Uber is my favorite. Petrol has become very expensive in Pakistan. The condition of the roads in Karachi is very alarming. Spare parts and mechanics are very expensive so the savings are negligible.

test | 2 years ago | Reply Neither Pakistan nor Pakistanis are even capable to create a ride hailing app. I just simply cannot describe in words. I mean look at our elite its dressing and english and land cruisers and vip culture working at foreign agenda of destroying education and its system with corrupt practices and policies by licking the shoes of west and their own vested interests. I mean what is the worth aukat of these bastards who are well suited english speaking big mansions expensive suvs oxford degrees but they cannot even create a simple ride hailing app for a population of 250 million. I am done with this system and we are literally f d by our elite which is on the agenda of west from the past 75 years and our own people the most irresponsible and reckless just like their mentors elite who have been fooling our people about patriotism and false stories of success and glorious times. They are corrupt criminals murderers and yes our people are too much irresponsible and lazy. They don t want to even work. They don t want to create engines cars satellites microchips nuclear reactors and computer parts etc Pakistan is good at producing chew gums bubble gums condoms toffees biscuits donkeys western puppets and of course begging and bailouts.

Replying to X