Uber, Bolt and Faras tell MPs: no minimum fare, lift the 18% fee cap
Key points
- Uber, Bolt and Faras, in a joint memo to the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation, opposed proposed minimum fares for ride-hailing.
- They said higher mandated prices would cut passenger demand and therefore driver trips and pay. They want the 18% service-fee cap removed; they put the global average at 25%.
- They asked for operating licences of three to five years instead of annual renewals. MPs worried five years is too rigid; the committee floated a middle term.
- Chair John Kiarie said the framework must protect consumers, support drivers and allow innovation. Vice-chair Alfah Miruka asked what drivers take home after fuel, maintenance and insurance. Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur wants driver witnesses from across the country. Firms must file revised memos.
If the floor fare goes up, the next trip may not come. Uber, Bolt and Faras put that warning to Parliament’s ICT committee, Eastleigh Voice reported on Wednesday 26 August 2026: a statutory minimum price, they said, would lift the passenger bill, shrink demand and leave drivers with fewer jobs.
“If fares rise and passenger demand falls, drivers may complete fewer trips and ultimately earn less.” Earnings, the joint memo says, are trips × demand × vehicle use minus running costs — not a tariff board. The same paper asks Parliament to scrap the 18 per cent ceiling on platform service fees. Kenya’s cap, they said, sits below a 25 per cent global average and blocks spend on promotions, driver incentives, safety kit, emergency response and support centres. “Government would effectively set the minimum fare a passenger pays while simultaneously limiting the maximum revenue a platform can receive.” They want licences of three to five years instead of yearly papers; MPs asked whether five years leaves the state too slow when the apps change. Committee chair John Kiarie said any rule must protect consumers, support drivers and leave room for innovation. Vice-chair Alfah Miruka wanted the take-home after fuel, maintenance and insurance. Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur said driver representatives from around the country should sit in the room before MPs vote a floor. The firms call drivers independent contractors who pick hours and can run several apps; they offered a split between temporary safety suspension and permanent deactivation, with a chance to answer. They also flagged overlapping national and county rules if the TNC frame spreads to goods and boda. Kiarie said businesses should not juggle two rulebooks without a coordinator. The companies want a Regulatory Impact Assessment before big price rules. The committee told them to file revised memoranda and will hear drivers first. A memo is not a gazette. No minimum shilling figure appears in this Eastleigh Voice report — only the fight over whether Parliament should set one.
A fare floor is not a payslip
Miruka’s question still has no table: net pay after fuel and insurance. Kitur’s driver panel is the hearing that can fill it.
Transport desk: Energy & Transport. Verified joint memo, 18%/25%, 3–5 year licences and Kiarie/Miruka/Kitur from Eastleigh Voice.
The committee clerk should post the hearing date for drivers. The firms should attach the RIA they want.
Riders should wait for the report before treating app prices as a new law.
Readers should cross-check any deadline, fee, court date or programme claim against primary gazettes, agency circulars and court records before acting on this report.
Official gazettes, court rulings and agency circulars may update these facts after publication; readers should verify any deadline, fee or court date against primary sources before acting.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the ICT committee session. The draft Bill clause on the minimum fare was not quoted in that account.
