…Ride-hailing Operators Review Fares Upward
Ride-hailing operators in Ghana are reviewing their fares upward following the latest government policy implementation.
The new Digital Transport Guidelines which could best be described as Digital Transport Tax, commenced on April 1, 2023.
However, operators are raising objections to the Ghana Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA’s) new Guidelines which they say will pill more pressure on citizens who are just trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A source familiar with the matter told TechEconomy that “Ghana’s ride-hailing industry is the hardest hit by inflation yet the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has released its Digital Transport Guidelines which are adding on to the industry’s woes”.
TechEconomy sighted a memo dated March 10th 2023 signed by Mr. Kwasi Agyeman Busia, the CEO of DVLA in which he formally introduced the updated Digital Transport Services Guidelines designed to ensure that ‘Digital Transport System Operators operate in compliance with the law, maintain high safety standards, and provide quality service to passengers’.
However, our source who prefers anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said “these guidelines are concerning for local users of Bolt, Uber, the Black Ride, Yango, inDrive, because of the impending price increases and the compromised data privacy for citizens”.
“Essentially, what this means is that a new tax will be introduced on the transportation sector which is payable in favour of the DVLA”.
Ride-hailing operators forced to price increases
This ‘tax’, TechEconomy gathered, is paid in a “per-trip fee”, currently set at GHS 1.00 (about (N42.81k), and subject to further revision and increase.
This will inevitably increase prices for those using ride-hail services and lead to the decrease of drivers’ incomes, amid Ghana’s skyrocketing inflation rates of 52.8% as at February 2023 and there is little progress in the highly anticipated IMF bailout deal.
This coming spike in transportation costs directly contradicts the President of Ghana’s urge to the transport operators to reduce prices.
“It is important to note that this fee has not been approved by the Parliament but rather issued by DVLA itself – it is unclear if legislators know about it. DVLA has kept the Guidelines out of public sight, despite the industry having received the fee news on March 10 and insisting on its enforcement since April 1st”, our source said.
Already, Uber has made moves in line with the new guidelines. The company, according to this report, decreased its commission fee from 25% to 20%.
The company also increased its base fare of GHC 7.00 to GHC 8.00 and its comfort minimum fare prices from GHC 9.00 to GHC 10.00.
Concerns of compromise of Citizens’ data privacy
TechEconomy investigations reveal another big issue within the new guideline – data sharing.
All digital transport service operators are expected to provide to DVLA, in real-time, data on all its passengers and drivers, including departure and arrival GPS coordinates and time stamps and even driver and passenger ratings.
However, it is not clearly disclosed in the Guidelines how this data will be used by the DVLA.
This directly contradicts the logic of keeping personal privacy guaranteed by Ghana laws.
Another requirement of the Guideline is an obligation to identify passengers utilizing its platform with their Ghana card.
All of this basically provides the DVLA with a means of unauthorized surveillance over all the users of digital transport services.
This would not be the first time the DVLA has sent directives to ride-hailing apps.
Recall that in 2019, the year COVID-19 ravaged the global economy, DVLA imposed a mandatory annual fee for ride-hailing apps.
Attached is the official letter from the DVLA communicating these changes:
