“Oh, you have luggage?” My Mutare InDrive Experience

I used to think all of these apps were essentially the same thing. You get exposed to one ride-hailing service and you assume that is simply how the whole thing works everywhere. You use one a few times and you think, this is it, this is how rides behave, full stop. With Bolt, the driver can only just accept the price and there is no negotiation. inDrive is different; you put up your own price, and the driver can agree, decline, or push back. Things are different kumakomoyo.

This weekend, I learned that my picture was incomplete. Moving around gets you exposed to a lot of things, and one of the things I did not know is that in some places you are actually expected to pay extra just to carry your bags or let us say luggage.

I am in Mutare now, and because I need a lot of things sorted out, I have found myself booking rides more than I used to. When I first arrived, the very first inDrive I took was excellent. It took all of my bags, quite a few of them to be fair, and dropped me home at the price we agreed on the app. I remember thinking, this is development, this is tech, this is exactly what the app is supposed to be, I love this for anaSaManyika.

So I went in with that expectation. That is the trap I fell into, I guess. One good ride and you assume the pattern is fixed and just the same as Harare.

Sunday was an ordinary but busy day for me. I went out to buy things, and by the time I was done, I had a load that was never going to work on a kombi. So I did the obvious thing and requested a ride. The price was fair. For that same distance in Harare, I would probably have paid a dollar or two more. In Mutare the numbers were reasonable, the fare was cheaper, and I was like yes, I am loving this city.

Then the driver arrived, and things changed.

I asked him to pull close to the exit so I could load my things. He did. But when I asked him to help me put the bags in so I could be on my way, he said, “You did not tell me you have luggage. You need to pay extra for that luggage.” I told him I did not think I needed to pay anything extra. I usually just put my things in, because they fit in the car. He insisted: no, this is luggage, you pay more, I was only coming to transport a person to this place. I told him plainly that this was not going to work. He told me I could cancel. So I cancelled.

I told the security guard at the shop that I would leave my trolley with her while I sorted out another ride, because this one was not doing what it was supposed to do. She offered to refer me to other drivers standing around, but I already knew that route would cost me more than the app price, so I declined, especially since this person would be just transporting me and coming back.

I requested a second ride, and this time I called the driver before he set off. I explained the situation: the app is showing two dollars, but the first driver wanted extra for luggage. His answer was almost casual and not even said with much effort. “Oh, you have luggage? Then just make it three, it is fine.” I told him no. That is not the price I was supposed to pay. The fare is two dollars, and I am sitting there with my own things, which is maybe 50kg. I should not be paying a premium for that. He told me I could cancel. I cancelled again.

By now I was wondering whether cancelling two rides in a row had quietly damaged my rating.

For the third ride I put up three dollars, mostly because I was tired and wanted to get home. I called him too. I told him straight: I do have things, and I am not paying more for them. He said, “You know, people usually pay more for that.” But then he added, “Let me come, and we can talk on the ground.” I thought, this is my guy, my guy!

He arrived, pulled over, and we loaded everything into the boot together. And then he explained the thinking on their side, which I appreciated hearing. Mutare sits close to Mozambique, so a lot of people here move bales, bales of clothes, bales of shoes, the kind of heavy cross-border loads that fill a boot on their own and take up much of the space. The fear among drivers, as I understood it, is that a passenger will show up with a heavy full bale and still expect to pay the base fare that was meant for carrying just a person. So the drivers hedge, and asking for a little extra becomes the norm. It is not helped by the fact that inDrive drivers here already feel the fares are too low for the distances and the fuel, a complaint you will hear from almost all of them, so the boot becomes the one place they can claw a little back, I think.

I pushed back, drawing on how it works where I am from. In Harare, when four people get into one car, they do not each pay a separate fare. If the ride is two dollars, they split it and go. We did it this other day with Limbikani and Leo when we wanted to have a look at some studio ideas. Nobody pays a premium to receive the level of service the app already offers. That was my point to him. He heard me out, we talked it through like reasonable people, and it was a good exchange. Of course I gave the gentleman five stars. He was a great person. He even asked what I was doing in Mutare. I told a story or two, though I did not disclose what I was actually there for.

InDrive’s whole design is that you offer a fare and a driver accepts it or negotiates. When the app shows a vehicle that seats four, that means four people can fit and travel with it. It does not say “four people, plus an extra charge for the boot if you have luggage.”

If I want to tip a driver for a heavy load or a good attitude, that is my choice to make, and I might. But tipping is a choice. You should not have to pay premium to receive the level of service the service already advertises.

Ride-hailing is not understood the same way in every city. The assumption I carried, that because it works one way in Harare it must work that way everywhere, was wrong. In Mutare the fares are often kinder, but the informal rules around luggage are a bit strict and normalised. So be ready for that conversation, and know what you will actually pay before the ride starts.

Also a side note; the driver says they are not charged the 12% for every ride, drivers in Harare are charged.

That is my experience. What about yours? What shocked you, or what felt different, the first time you used inDrive in a city that was not your own? Or was it a totally different story? Let us hear it.

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