Global ride-hailing apps are no longer something Jamaican operators only read about. Uber launched in Kingston in June 2021, according to the Jamaica Observer, and its own website now lists Kingston and Ocho Rios as cities it serves. In early 2024 the same paper reported an Uber Taxi option on the north coast, run with a Montego Bay taxi association. For a licensed taxi, tour or charter company, the question is no longer whether these apps will arrive. It is whose business your riders become when they do.
This article makes a simple case: the riders you have earned, the fares you set and the money they pay should stay with your company, and with Jamaica. A global app can bring you trips. It cannot give you a business you own.
How a global ride-hailing app makes its money
Ride-hailing marketplaces earn by taking a share of each fare. Uber calls its share a service fee. It differs by country and has changed over time, but it is commonly reported at around 25% in many markets: the Jamaica Observer cited a 25% service fee in its 2021 launch coverage, Uber announced in 2021 that long-serving UK drivers would move from 20% to 25%, and in Kenya the company cut its fee from 25% to 18% in 2022 after drivers stopped work in protest. Driver-advocacy analyses in the United States argue that once booking and other fees are counted, the effective share of what the rider pays can be higher still. Those are third-party estimates, not Uber's figures, and the rate any one driver pays depends on where and when they drive.
Put that next to your own numbers. On a trip a rider pays J$5,000 for, a 25% fee is J$1,250 that leaves your company. Across a fleet doing hundreds of app trips a month, that adds up quickly, and most of it leaves the island. You can try your own volumes in our earnings calculator.
The fee is not the biggest cost
A percentage is easy to compare. What is harder to see on a statement is everything else you hand over when your cars run on someone else's app.
The rider relationship
On a marketplace app, the rider downloads the platform's app, creates an account with the platform and books "a car". Their phone number, their trip history and their next booking belong to the platform. The guest your driver collected from Sangster on time, with the right car seat and a cold bottle of water, may never learn your company's name, and their next ride can go to whichever car is nearest.
The price
On a marketplace, the platform sets fares, promotions and discounts. Your rate card for an airport run, a half-day tour or a hotel transfer is replaced by the app's pricing, and the platform can change it without asking you.
The terms, and the account
Platform terms can change, as the UK and Kenya fee changes show. Uber's community guidelines also say that drivers who break the rules, or fall below a city's minimum rating, can lose access to all or part of the platform. Rules like that exist on most marketplaces and often protect riders. But they mean a driver's income, or a fleet's place on the app, depends on decisions made by a company you do not control.
The alternative: your own branded app
You do not have to choose between staying off apps entirely and handing your riders to someone else. A white-label booking app puts your company's name and colours on an app riders download from the App Store and Google Play. They book you, they pay you, and the next time they need a car, your app is the one on their phone.
- Your riders stay yours. Every account is your company's customer, and you can see who books, how often and where.
- You set the fares. Airport runs, tours, charters, hourly hire and corporate rates are priced the way you already price them.
- Your rules for your drivers. You decide who drives for you, how they are trained and how problems are handled, as you do today.
- More of the money stays in Jamaica. The fare goes to a Jamaican company that employs Jamaican drivers and dispatchers.
- Scheduled work fits. Bookings made days ahead, hotel pickups and phone or WhatsApp bookings entered by your dispatcher all sit in the same system, rather than being squeezed into an on-demand marketplace.
Side by side
| Your own branded app (Conduence) | Global ride-hailing app | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand riders see | Your company's name, logo and colours | The platform's brand |
| Who holds the rider account | Your company | The platform |
| Who sets the fare | You | Generally the platform |
| Share of each booking kept | 95% of each completed app booking | Varies by market; Uber's service fee is commonly reported at around 25%, before other fees |
| Monthly software bill | None | Usually none; the platform earns per trip |
| Who decides which drivers carry riders | You | The platform, under its own guidelines |
| Can the terms change? | Agreed with you up front | Platform terms and fees can change, and have in several markets |
| Scheduled, tour & corporate work | Built in | Often limited |
| Where the money goes | Your Jamaican company | A share leaves for the platform |
To be fair to the platforms
Global apps do some things well. They bring a large base of riders, including visitors who already have the app on their phones, and a driver can start earning within days without any setup. For a solo driver, or as overflow for quiet hours, that can be useful, and some operators will keep a platform for exactly that. What we would caution against is building your whole company on it. Visitor demand is real, but your regulars, your hotel desks and your corporate accounts came to you because of your name. They should keep booking your name.
What it takes to run your own app
The usual objection is that an app is expensive and slow to build. Building one from scratch often is, as we explain in white label vs build vs platform. A white label removes most of that: the rider app, driver app, dispatch dashboard, live tracking and card payments already exist, so the work is branding, setup and training.
With Conduence, that means:
- Your branded rider app on the App Store and Google Play under your company name, live in up to four weeks.
- A driver app, a dispatch dashboard for your office, live trip tracking, card payments and cash logging, so app, phone and WhatsApp bookings sit in one place.
- You keep 95% of each completed app booking; Conduence takes 5%. There is no monthly software bill.
- Two weeks of launch support once you go live.
The full terms are on our pricing page, and Why Conduence covers how we work with operators.
Keep Jamaican riders in Jamaican hands
Jamaica's taxi, tour and charter operators built their reputations one airport run, one hotel guest and one corporate account at a time. Wherever global apps operate, the riders you have earned are worth protecting. The way to do that is not to fight the technology, it is to own it: your app, your riders, your fares. If you would like to see what your own branded app would look like, get in touch.
Sources
- Jamaica Observer: Uber launches in Jamaica (15 June 2021)
- Jamaica Observer: Uber now available in MoBay (30 January 2024)
- Uber: cities served in Jamaica
- TaxiPoint: long-serving Uber drivers set for service fee increase to 25% (June 2021)
- Citizen Digital: Uber adjusts service fee from 25% to 18% in Kenya (October 2022)
- The Rideshare Guy: How much is Uber really taking from your ride?
- Uber Community Guidelines