Picture yourself seated inside a cab with bated breath as your driver pleads with other motorists to allow him to fill his vehicle with gas.
Some drivers allege that they sometimes incentivise their colleagues to allow them to jump the queue, leading to bidding wars.
While fuel service stations are spread countrywide, with some brands providing locator services, LPG refuelling centres are fewer in number, inconveniencing motorists.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, one taxi driver who spoke on condition of anonymity lamented that it could take hours to fuel at a gas station owing to long queues.
The driver, who operates along the Ngong Racecourse area, is forced to use the gas station situated along Karen. Owing to this challenge, Eli operates along Ngong Road and Mombasa Road only, as his alternative is fueling in the South C area.
"The long queues are caused by tankers which take hours to refill. This type of inconvenience consumes a lot of time and costs us in the long run," the taxi driver lamented.
Customers sometimes seek to ascertain whether the car uses cooking gas, is electric, hybrid, or is driven on fuel, before hopping inside.
However, some drivers contradicted this, stating that driving a cooking-gas-fueled car requires proper planning, from calculating mileage and the amount required to last the day.
Pros
The motorist, however, argued that cooking gas was cost-effective as a one-way trip to Western Kenya costs Ksh3,000 as compared to Ksh6,000 for fuel.
He urged more investors to join the market and open more stations nationwide at the same rate as electric charging ports.
Other motorists added that using LPG gas helped cut fuel expenses by almost 40 per cent.
Rogue Cab Drivers
Meanwhile, an online cab driver divulged that they subscribe to multiple digital taxis to optimise revenue.
However, cab drivers are calm and composed while using taxi-hailing applications which offer clients proper channels to air their grievances.
The same drivers exploit loopholes in the other applications leading to an increase in cases of rude behaviour, unprofessionalism, assault, and impromptu hiked fares.
"When you use a certain application, you are supposed to be charged 18 per cent according to law. For instance, they can take up to Ksh42.43 as commission for a Ksh190 fee within Nairobi.
"You also need to factor booking fees which means that the driver is left with around Ksh130," the driver who spoke on condition of anonymity told Kenyans.co.ke.
Riders of some taxi-hailing apps were accused of asking clients to cancel rides once they meet at pick-up locations to avoid remitting the charges.
He noted that cartels operating within the taxi-hailing apps could downgrade the services of the industry.
"There are cartels within several taxi apps who occasionally disconnect drivers unfairly to solicit money from them," he pointed out.
