In many cities, transport network company Uber allows various payment options such as Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Wallet and credit card payments but not Uber cash payments. When the company enacted its Uber cash payment system in Nairobi, it reported "triple growth."
Is Uber cash payment the next big thing?
CapitalFM reported that since the Uber cash payment system rolled out in Nairobi - the second city in the world among 300 cities to adapt this method - it made a "five-fold growth in sign-ups and referrals."
"We have tripled our growth since then and the drivers using the Uber platform are taking more trips so taking more money home too," Alon Lits, the Uber general manager in the region said. "We have listened to this to and now we want everyone to enjoy the hassle-free convenience of ordering a safe ride at the push of a button."
Appearing as a technologically-forward city open for new developments, the capital city of Nairobi is among the cities that "provide Uber with the right environment to test a new payment option among a sizeable and sophisticated rider and driver community."
With the success of its Uber cash payment method, it is proving to be a city where Uber drivers can freely drive without getting backlashes from government authorities, more open than in some parts of the world.
"The interest in Uber in Nairobi has been amazing," the report cited Lits as saying. "Nairobi is one of the most innovative cities on the continent and cash payments [are] one of the innovations we have made for the Nairobi market."
Not only among the sign-ups, but the partner-drivers of Uber in the city reportedly doubled in the last few months, racing with the demand growth.
Before Nairobi tested its Uber cash payment, the city of Hyderabad in India has already rolled out the Uber cash payment option, catapulting the company into a fresh business landscape, the Uber website reported. Following this, five other Indian cities have also adapted the method.
Last week, the Southeast Asian nation of Vietnam has reportedly started the Uber cash payment, urging commuters to move to the major cities choosing Uber as their transport service provider when it entered the country, Tuoitre News reported.
"Hundreds of thousands of commuters have moved around Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi with Uber as their preferred choice, [but] there were many who never had the chance because of Uber's cashless payment system," the company said in the report.
