Few weeks ago traditional drivers from Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni in South Africa were up in arms against Uber, challenging the Government to develop rules to oversee Uber Services in the South Africa.
The violence has reached new heights and has seen one Zimbabwean Uber driver Webb-Law Chehore , 59, being shot dead on Friday, while picking up two female passengers near the Baxter Theatre. Uber spokeswoman Samantha Allenberg confirmed the murder and said Uber supporting the grieving family in bringing Chehore to Zimbabwe for burial.
The incident follows related one that occurred in Nigeria last month where an Uber taxi driver was seriously wounded. Early February this year, criminal gangs also attacked Uber drive in Kenya. The attacks took several days and required the intervention of security agencies to be suppressed. As of this writing , the disapprovals against ride-sharing app are not restricted to Africa, as there have been a number of quarrels in Germany, Spain, France, India and other parts of the world over Uber’s operations.
Uber is an app-based transportation network using a smartphone application to receive ride requests.
All over the world traditional taxi drivers are assertive for protocols that will stop the ‘Uber Revolution’. But the reality shows that Uber does not own any car, Uber mainly gets vehicles from local transporters and invites local investors to buy vehicles and contract them out to the company and uses local drivers for its service.
One thing I have learnt from the ride-sharing app is that traditional drivers need to see the Uber opportunities early enough and join the Uber Revolution.But while all that remains to be seen in the next decade or so, what is obvious even today is that the taxi as we know it is dying a slow and painful death.
Techunzipped