Taxi Assc concedes market share to ride-hailing apps
Lewanika Timothy | Monday June 16, 2025 12:42
Despite their persistent efforts to curb the influence of inDrive, a leading mobile taxi platform, two additional major players have recently launched operations, further sidelining traditional taxi operators and deepening industry woes.
Over the last six months, Botswana has witnessed the launch of two taxi-hailing apps, Yango and Bolt, both with over 100 million downloads worldwide on Google's Play Store alone. The last two have joined inDrive which has been a headache for taxi associations and orthodox taxi operators who feel that the ridesharing services are stealing their market.
The new ridesharing services are charging trips far below the local taxi operators, squeezing the business previously enjoyed by the local transporters.
Local taxi operators say the online services are unregulated and do not comply with local laws that the local operators are bound by.
In an interview with BusinessWeek, Gaborone Taxi Association business consultant, Eric Bagwasi, revealed that the launch of two major taxi-hailing apps in the past months has complicated the war against the disruption caused by these apps. Conceding to the defeat, Bagwasi made it clear that they are considering other measures to fight against these apps.
“We are not winning the war, and worse off there is nothing government can do as well,” he said. “There is no bill to govern these mobile taxi operators and for the time being government’s hands are tied. “There is not much we can do as well.”
The association revealed it has plans to rather push government’s hand to tax the new platforms so that “price sanity” is restored in the market.
“What we have resorted to doing is to work with government on how these operators can be taxed so that they are not so cheap. Currently, we can’t even compete with their prices,” Bagwasi said.
Taxi hailing, an orthodox way of calling for a taxi, has been prone to disruption in the past years with the service shifting to digital avenues, especially with the arrival of international players like Uber. In Botswana, the first to launch was inDrive which has since captured the Gaborone market to the disdain of local taxi operators.
Local transporters worry that they pay hefty fees to get licensed by the Ministry of Transport and also pay annual licence renewal fees coupled with roadworthiness assessments all of which digital operators are not subject to.
Digital taxi apps have won the hearts of Batswana like elsewhere in the world because of their fast turnaround times and ability for customers to negotiate taxi prices.
In response to these mounting pressures, Bagwasi revealed that they are also mulling launching a counter-app in response to the disruption brought by the digital taxi platforms.
“We are thinking about launching a counter-app, one that is tailormade to the local market,” he said.