Building a ride service for Addis Ababa where the price you see is the price you pay, and what it taught us about trust, drivers and slow internet.
Anyone who has taken a taxi in Addis Ababa knows the conversation. You name your destination, the driver names a price, and the next two minutes are a negotiation. If it is raining, or it is rush hour at Megenagna, or you are arriving at Bole with luggage and a foreign accent, the number goes up. Ride-hailing apps were supposed to end this, but many of them simply moved the negotiation into an algorithm: surge pricing that rises with demand, and a final fare that can differ from the estimate.
When we built BinaRide, the ride service inside BinaSmart, we started from one rule. The fare is calculated when you book, it is locked, and it does not change. Not for traffic, not for rain, not because more people want a car at that moment.
What a locked fare looks like
Here is a real quote from our fare engine at the time of writing, for a trip from Bole International Airport to Piassa, about 9 kilometres:
- Economy (4 seats): 365 birr
- Comfort (4 seats): 525 birr
- Van (7 seats): 730 birr
You see these prices before you confirm. The driver sees the same pickup, drop-off, distance and earnings on the ride card before accepting. Nobody can change the number afterwards, so there is nothing to argue about at the end of the trip. You pay the driver in cash or with telebirr.
This matters most at the airport. A visitor landing at Terminal 2 at night has no idea what a fair price is, and that is exactly when a locked fare is most useful. It also means family abroad can help: someone in Dubai or Washington can book the ride for a parent arriving in Addis, and know exactly what it will cost.
Why drivers agreed to it
A fixed fare only works if drivers accept it, and drivers have good reasons to like surge pricing. What changed their minds was the other half of the deal.
During our launch, BinaSmart takes no commission. The whole fare goes to the driver, paid directly by the passenger. There is no sign-up fee, no weekly fee and no deposit, and drivers are free to keep using other apps. We have committed to telling drivers in writing before that ever changes.
Keeping 100% of a predictable fare is a different deal from keeping a share of an unpredictable one. And a driver who never has to argue with a passenger has a better day.
Sharing the car on the commute
The same fare engine powers BinaPool, our shared commute. Up to four riders share one Comfort car on a fixed corridor and pay per seat. The more people in the car, the less each person pays, and the more the driver earns.
On the Kazanchis to Piassa corridor, via Arat Kilo, the seat prices at the time of writing were:
- 1 rider: 295 birr
- 2 riders: 165 birr each
- 3 riders: 120 birr each
- 4 riders: 100 birr each
With four riders, each person pays about a third of the solo fare, and the driver takes 385 birr instead of 295. Everyone has a reason to want a full car. The corridors follow the city's real commuting patterns, such as Megenagna to Bole, CMC to Bole, and Piassa or Mexico to Kazanchis, running inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. It is, in a sense, a formal version of the contract taxi arrangements that Addis has relied on for years.
Built for 3G, not for app stores
Our biggest design decision was not about pricing at all. BinaRide has no app to download. Riders book inside Telegram, through @bina_smart_bot, or in the browser at bina.et/ride. Drivers sign up and take trips inside Telegram too, through @binasmartdriverbot, and it works well on 3G.
Telegram is already one of the most used apps on Ethiopian phones. Asking someone to download a new app, on a slow connection and a phone with little storage, is where many good services lose their users. Meeting people where they already are removed that step entirely.
What we would tell other builders
- Make the price the promise. In a market used to negotiation, a number that cannot change is a feature in itself.
- Align the incentives. Pool pricing works because riders, drivers and the platform all want the same thing: a full car.
- Respect the network people actually have. If your service needs 4G and a fresh download, you have already excluded much of your market.
- Earn trust before you charge for it. Zero commission during launch let drivers try the model without risk.
BinaRide currently serves Addis Ababa, with Economy, Comfort and Van cars, and airport pickups at Bole Terminal 2. You can check a fixed price for your own trip at bina.et/ride, see the shared commute corridors at bina.et/pool, or book an airport transfer at bina.et/airport. Drivers can join at bina.et/drive-with-us.
Ibrahim Kedir Bedru is the founder of BinaSmart (bina.et), based at JJ Darule Building in Addis Ababa. Fares quoted are from BinaSmart's fare engine at the time of writing; the live price is always shown before you book.
Originally published on Medium.
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