Cairo taxi drivers call for Uber, Careem businesses to be rerouted

Cairo taxi drivers are disgruntled over the presence of other taxi services operating on the city’s outskirts.

Taxi drivers in the Egyptian capital have been protesting against the operation of taxi services Uber and Careem.

“They harm me because I cannot find any more clients. If I do find clients they will be paying 3EGP, 4EGP and 5EGP. They take the long rides and they refuse the short rides,” Mohamed Al Shoikh, taxi driver said.

Careem is an app-based service that provides chauffeured cars. It operates in some parts of the Middle East and Pakistan.

San Francisco-based Uber, whose investors include Goldman Sachs and Google, has grown around the world but has faced protests, bans and restrictions in several cities.

The presence of Uber Technologies Inc.‘s service has triggered protests by taxi drivers from London to New Delhi.

In Cairo, drivers accuse the companies of unfair competition and of hampering their growth.

According to the company’s head of operations in Egypt, Abdellatif Waked, Uber caters for a different clientele than those who use regular taxis hence the call for their exit could be misplaced.

Uber operates in more than 50 countries.