Online taxi hailing firm Uber has pledged to compensate drivers who suffered losses in the wake of a three-day application malfunction that lasted up to Monday.
Uber said a technical glitch that has since been rectified caused the malfunction, which made it impossible for drivers using the firm’s technology to go online.
The hitch left most Nairobi drivers on the Uber platform out of work as customers competed for the few taxis that were available.
“This issue has been resolved. It was an operating system problem on driver devices,” said Uber spokesperson for East Africa Janet Kemboi.
“Drivers who experienced difficulty using the app during this time will receive a payment to their account. We’re sorry for that and we are working hard to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Uber did not, however, respond to queries on how much the drivers would be paid.
The service malfunction comes after reports of cases where the driver devices would stall mid-trip or fail to end a trip when the command is triggered.
The glitch also comes months after Uber started rolling out a new application in Kenya that is supposedly set to improve customer experience.
Uber says that about 68 percent of customers have updated to the new application and is expecting to get to the rest of the users before the end of April.
“With Uber, you should be able to push a button and get a ride — or drive — whenever, wherever,” says Uber.
The new app unveiled globally in November comes with additional features that, for instance, marks pick-up and drop-off location to precision.
“To recapture the clean and simple aesthetic of the original Uber experience — without sacrificing the choice our riders now expect — we rebuilt a faster, smarter rider app completely from the ground up,” read a statement from Uber. The new app is able to give “shortcuts” to where a person is heading after mastering a routine, connect to a personal calendar and use people as destination, amongst other functions.
“This means your destination is often a person. But figuring out exactly where they are involves a lot of texting back and forth. Just sync your contacts with the app, type their name into the search bar and once they’ve shared their location, you’ll be on your way,” Uber said.
The new app also allows people to split fare and share trip status with friends. Riders on a journey will also be able to get to play with Snapchat filters or stream favourite songs on Pandora (limited to specific markets) using the app.
In cities where UberEATS is available, riders will be able to order food using the app while on their way home and get the order on arrival.
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Credit: Business Daily
