Review of Dandia, the latest cab hailing app in Nairobi

On the 23rd of September, Pewin Cabs launched their cab hailing app called Dandia, which is Swahili for that thing matatu touts in the city do, where they jump into the matatu after it has started moving. Pewin promises us that we will be able to Dandia a cab any time we want it and fast. “A cab in 5 mins, wherever you are in Nairobi” is their promise.

Dandia’s value proposition is that the fare is fixed, no matter the weather or traffic situation. This is comforting to me, because I have in the past suffered a number of Uber fare surges, and it is not pleasant.

I have used Uber consistently since its launch in Nairobi, and I used it in Kampala with some minor issues. However, but my desire is to use a local solution mainly. Buying Kenya to build Kenya. So far I have tried Easy Taxi, which was ok but it closed shop, Mondo Ride did not have cabs available where I live so gave up. I have also used Little several times – Kirui reviewed Little, read his review here.

Back to Dandia.

I installed the app at 11am barely an hour after it was launched, from the Google Play Store.The registration process is nice. First, you select what type of account you want, the options are an individual or a corporate account.

I like that they give you the option of using your Google, Facebook or Twitter accounts. I did not want the account linked to my social media accounts, so I opted to add my details manually. It took about a minute to get the confirmation text, and finish registration.

Requesting a cab was pretty easy. Despite the fact that I was in a rather new office building, the app’s map function worked great, and gave more detail about the location than Uber does. The app gives you the option of asking for a mini van or a regular 4-seater cab, which I think is rather cool.

It has the option of asking for a ride immediately, or setting a pick up time. I wanted to leave at 3pm, so I requested to be picked up at 3pm. The estimated fare was 460 shillings.

At about 2:30pm, a lady called me, not to ask for directions (as many Uber drivers do), but to inform me that she had received my request and would be at the pick-up location at exactly 3pm. Yay! My first lady cab driver. She next called me at 2:58pm to inform me that she had arrived. First, I requested that we take a selfie 😉 We both were excited that we were in African print dresses.

The car was a regular cab – not new, but reasonably clean. I didn’t mind that at all. The app directed us to use Uhuru Highway (the basis on which the fare was calculated), but since it was on Friday and I wanted to avoid traffic, I advised that we take an alternative route.

At 3:42pm, we arrived at the destination on Mombasa Road. The app did not recalculate the fare based on the new route, and she was forced to calculate my fare manually, using the distance we had traveled.

For now they are only taking cash. I rarely carry cash for easy expense tracking, so I resorted to sending her M Pesa, na ya kutoa (withdrawal fee included). The driver didn’t ask that I include the withdrawal fee, I just thought it is reasonable to do so. I paid 500 shillings, which is not significantly higher than the original fare.

I was unhappy with the fact that I could not view the fare on my side of the app,even when I checked the trip history after the trip was concluded. Dandia has also not sent me an email with my invoice like Uber, and sometimes Little does.

Their post-trip window is interesting. You have the option of saving the trip as a favorite, and to even book a return trip. That is helpful.

When I tried to check my fair again, the app crashed a number of times. Just like Little does 🙂

General observations

The registration process on Dandia is much better than on Little.
Dandia gets 5 stars for map use, and the cab request process. It was a much better experience than Uber, whose quality has deteriorated of late because the drivers do not use the app and instead rely on the customer for directions.
I like that you get to know your fare beforehand, but I dislike that it is not flexible, should you choose to change your route.
Lack of invoicing exposes the app to abuse, and makes it hard for the client to keep record of his/her spend.

Verdict

I will try it again, though long term I will use it if: