10 years after opening office in Tanzania, Uber’s permanent exit happened on January 30th 2026. This happened after what Uber cited as “unworkable regulatory environment”. This isn’t the first time they are stepping away from Tanzania. Back in April 2022, Uber had suspended operations for 10 months due to hindering regulations. Uber came in as an alternative to the traditional taxis but similar to how many international companies approach the African market, they were plagued with many issues that were the final nail in the coffin which we break down below;
Regulatory Pressure by LATRA
At the root cause of Uber Tanzania’s woes is Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA). In April 2022, Uber suspended operations as Tanzania pushed for a 15% cap on commissions that Uber would pocket from drivers. Uber argued that the percentage was way below their break-even point that is 25% to smoothly run operations. In 2023 after resuming, Uber were always in constant threat as regulators would switch up.
In Kenya, the commissions are set at 18% by the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA). Even though this isn’t the most favorable for Uber, this allows them to keep operations afloat. The lack of LATRA to sit at the table and reach a consensus, was on of the biggest pain point for the ride hailing application.
Per-kilometer and per-minute guide fares
Uber in Tanzania was not treated as a digital service rather they were considered as a traditional taxi service. This meant that strict per-kilometer and per-minute guide fares were imposed. This meant that Uber could not surge pricing or use dynamic pricing algorithms. Surges are usually happy moments for drivers as factors like rain and even vehicle availability means more money per ride maybe even double.
Product Localization
International organizations often lack adaptability in the African market and Uber isn’t spared. Unlike Kenya where Uber introduced Uber Safari for night game drives in Nairobi National Park or UberBODA for those who needed swiftness, Uber Tanzania didn’t setup with local needs in mind.
Uber was highly car reliant with UberX and UberXL that their competitors, Bolt, saw the gap and integrated bodabodas and tuktuks that mold the backbone of Tanzanian transport in their app. This and lack a market share gap with more than 25,000 drivers being on Bolt crumpled operations as compared to a few thousand on Uber.
What do we learn?
Regulators play a huge role in the success of a company locally and Uber’s exit shows us just that. A huge gap has been created with the exit and this goes to show us the ever growing need for e-hailing taxi apps. African based solutions time and time again fail but with good positioning, such foreseen closures won’t be witnessed. Finally, the exit on January 30th marks the end of an era, but it also signals a shift in power.
