A few months ago, ride-sharing service Uber seemed to have very big ambitions for Uber Moto. Moto is, or was, a limited pilot program testing whether motorcycles would work to ferry South African passengers. Now, though? It’s on hold while the company tabulates what has been learned from its Johannesburg test flight.
In April this year, Uber general manager Deepesh Thomas was very optimistic about the future of Moto. At the time, he said that the service “could become a core engine for transportation and e-hailing in South Africa over the next decade.”
Uber Moto cross?
But those ambitions, and potentially as many as 300,000 motorcycles carrying passengers, will have to wait. Uber Moto has been suspended “as we evaluate the insights and feedback gathered during its pilot phase.” That means the country’s cheapest ride-sharing fare has also gone away — ostensibly temporarily.
Uber X, on the other hand, has departed from the country entirely. It has departed, according to the platform, because its list of options has become cluttered. There’s still Uber Go, Black, Comfort, and Electric to choose from. Moto, on the other hand, may or may not return.
Uber Moto has several glaring problems that the company has yet to address. One is the risk to drivers and passengers on South African roads. The other is the availability of safety gear for passengers. Motorcycles don’t have enough storage space for multiple helmet and jacket sizes, and people are shaped differently.
There’s also the issue of putting passengers with no motorcycle experience on the road. Even with trained riders, the potential fatality risk is excessive. Presumably, Uber’s liability here following a broader rollout will inform its assessment of its “insights and feedback gathered during its pilot phase.”
