Uber has shut down its cab services in 5 major cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, and Faisalabad. It will continue to operate in Lahore and other cities for the time being, but there is no indication of how long it will stay. This brings good tidings for Careem fares and services.
Careem is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber since 2020. As soon as Uber discontinued services in the aforementioned cities, it also announced that all customers and drivers should move to Careem for compensation. As a goodwill gesture to its drivers, Uber also wrote off all pending driver debts and offered a one-time goodwill payment to them.
More Careem Drivers
Needless to say, this will bring even more drivers to Careem in these cities, which may improve fares as a result. More drivers mean more ride availability, which means fewer peak factors and possibly even lower rates for rides. For those unaware, peak factors are applied when there is a lack of drivers in your area, but if there is a surplus, then it will no longer be a problem.
Furthermore, more driver availability also means you will find your rides much faster than before. Drivers will reach you quickly since they will not have to accept your ride from far away.
However, this highly depends on the number of drivers that migrate to Careem from Uber. As it stands, there is no information on how many drivers will actually migrate to Careem. Some drivers already used Uber and Careem alternatively and it is also possible that some of them will move to rival apps such as InDriver.
Hence, we recommend taking this information with a grain of salt.
We reached out to Careem for an official comment. Here is what they had to say:
Careem service is already working to improve everyday since our inception. It will have nothing to do with Uber leaving. We are an independent brand and will continue to work hard.
