Users of online ride-hailing company Uber have a reason to smile after the company waived trip cancellation fees for its users in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Uber said it had opted to stop charging users of the app and instead focus on being more affordable and reliable in the digital taxi business.

“At Uber, we are always monitoring rider experience, market dynamics and fare structures to ensure our app continues to be a reliable and affordable option for you. With this in mind, we have removed all trip cancellation fees,” the company said in a statement.

It added, “Please note this has been implemented across all our products in Nairobi and Mombasa.”

Uber normally charges a user Sh150 fee as penalty for cancelling a requested trip and this was introduced to compensate its taxi drivers for committing their time to a trip.

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One was charged Sh150 cancellation fee if they abandoned the trip more than five minutes after requesting, to compensate the driver.

The person who requested the trip was also made to pay the cancellation charge if the driver cancelled the trip more than 5 minutes after the driver arrived at the pick-up location.

The decision by Uber comes following complaints by users of the digital taxis over the cancellation charges, especially when the driver is to blame for the trip cancellation.