Addis Ababa Deputy City Mayor Takele Uma granted Ride the permission to resume service. Ride which is Ethiopia based tech startup that is mainly similar to Silicon Valley ride-sharing app Uber was suspended from giving service due to a violation of Addis Ababa Road Transport Authority regulations. Contrary to the authority claim Ride counters the claim as a move that thwarts a technological effort to ease the transport problem in Addis Ababa.
During a meeting, the city mayor stressed the importance of implementing the rules and regulation of the road authority adding the violation of the company in the way it was running its service. But the mayor also criticized the authority action for completely banning the service rather than providing alternatives.
After deliberating for hours the mayor granted Ride to resume its service by issuing the necessary working license that is granted for companies who gives transport service. In order to operate as a transport service facilitator, the law requires you to have at least 50 cars registered under the company.
After the meeting Ride General Manager Samrawit stated that her company will process the necessary license to resume its service while focusing on the amendment of the law to enable technological driven solutions to be incorporated.
Ride which is similar to Uber localized its solution by adding text and a call center and currently, there are more than 700 cars operating under its umbrella.
when will it start working again