Illegal Yango drivers face scrutiny over ‘fake delays’

Customers of e-hailing service Yango have accused some drivers of deliberately delaying rides to claim more money.

Some say waiting for a ride is supposed to take less than four minutes, but increasingly takes longer – even up to eight minutes.

The Yango app enables drivers to add paid waiting time to a passenger’s bill if customers do not board cars on time.

Some customers say some drivers are deliberately stalling their arrival and not picking up their calls when customers want to enquire where they are.

They claim some drivers start driving without indicating this on the app, which eventually translates to waiting time and an increased ride fare.

Albertina Imalwa from Windhoek has taken to social media to share her experience when she booked a N$40 Yango last week.

“When I book a Yango, I stay glued to my phone, so immediately when the app told me he was outside, I went and entered the Yango, but immediately noticed he did not press the button to notify Yango that the ride had started,” she says.

Imalwa says she found this odd.

“But there was like a free waiting time, right? I assumed he probably just forgot and maybe he did, but he remembered to press it after the free waiting time was over,” she says.

As a result of this delay from the driver’s side, Imalwa says she was charged an extra N$5 on top of the N$40 she would initially pay.

“It’s not a lot, but in this economy, it makes a difference,” she says.

Imalwa says she only had N$50 on her and told the driver she had no change. He was then forced to give her the N$10 he was supposed to give her initially.

She says she was not sure if the driver had delayed indicating the start of the ride deliberately.

Public relations company Tulip Media, which consults for Yango, did not respond to questions on the matter at the time of going to print yesterday.

Another customer, only known as ‘Da Gracia’, says an amount had in the past been charged to her bank card without boarding a ride.

She says the driver of the Yango had indicated he was at her pickup point when the app showed he was still some distance away.

“I was tracking him on the app and I could see where he was. He wasn’t at my pickup point. I wanted to cancel but decided not to because he used his fuel to drive to me. He was literally four minutes away,” she says.

Da Gracia claims the driver did not reach her pickup point but started the ride and completed it without her boarding the vehicle.

“He went away with N$18, charged from my card. What if he drove a longer distance and got me charged N$68, the initial ride fare?” she asks.

Another user, who chooses to remain anonymous says: “We cannot be sure the app even works properly, as these drivers get to tweak the app. How is the driver able to manipulate the location on the app?”

Minister of works and transport Veiko Nekundi yesterday said all e-hailing services in Namibia are illegal.

When asked why e-hailing services continue to operate in the country despite being illegal, he said enforcement lies with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, while the technology aspect falls under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.

The minister in May told The NamibianYango would face legal action by the information ministry if it does not comply with permit regulations.

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