I read with interest recently that Uber has started in South Africa.  Its basically a taxi service but not the regular registered taxi’s one is used to.  I have used the service in America and essentially you download an application to your phone, register with your name, cell phone number and credit card number and then using the GPS facility within your phone, which works out where you are, to indicate which address you would like to be taken to and Uber will send a driver along for you.  

You sometimes have a choice of cars with a fancy black car costing you more than the uberX car.  Uber is having problems in many countries around the world who feel that they are competing with taxis, somewhat unfairly, but in my experience, a taxi driver is still cheaper. During my test in America I went to a place with a taxi which cost me $11 and when I came back from that same place to my starting point it cost me $42 with Uber which is four times as much.  In fairness to Uber they did send me a warning that it was peak time due to a music festival taking place at the same time, and I was not in the downtown area, and I had to enter onto the app on my phone that I agreed that I would be paying 2,75 times the normal rate so as to procure a driver.  It is huge in cities like New York, where business people are using them more and more in competition with taxis and of course it is one more option if you are in an area without a taxi.  

I think we will also find some people in South Africa who are going to decide that using their car and register as an Uber driver might just suit them, because they can decide when they are going to work, for example on a weekend only, but it is something that people will have to be fairly careful about and choose a safe location to work in.  Lastly, the drivers are rated, so you get a picture of the driver who is on the way to you, you can track on GPS where they are and how long they are going to take to get to you, you can see their overall rating such as 4,9 out of 5 and they in turn give you a rating!  You don’t pay when you get out of the car or anything like that, because that is all arranged via the app and your credit card is charged automatically as the journey ends.