Drivers of ride-hailing companies Uber, Bolt and Little are threatening to withdraw their services if their operators refuse to raise fares and commissions after the fuel price hikes.

The drivers say they are unable to meet their daily needs and pay their car loans as their share has reduced notably given taxi fares have remained the same despite fuel price hikes.

The operators’ lobby, E-hailing Transporters Kenya, vows the drivers will switch off the apps if the ride-hailing firms don’t adjust their fares and commissions adequately within a month.

“We hereby issue 30-day notice to all the defiant apps that we shall be switching off and deleting all those apps at the end of the 30 days,” said their Secretary General Wycliffe Alutalala.

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Bolt taxi. PHOTO/COURTESY

Uber pays drivers a commission of 25 per cent of the fare per trip, while their counterparts operating under the Bolt and Little Cab take home 20 and 19 per cent of fares respectively.

Digital taxi drivers under Digital Taxi Forum lobby group had proposed to the Senate that the taxi-hailing service firms have their commissions capped at a maximum of 5 per cent.

Little Cab. PHOTO/COURTESY

The proposals set to be adopted by transport industry stakeholders through the National Transport and Safety Authority remain stuck in the National Assembly two years later.

The drivers have halted their services on many occasions before over their low fares and dwindling earnings forcing the ride-hailing service firms to adjust their commissions.