MARAMOJA Transport Refuses to Die| Introduces Luxury Rides to its Fleet

With the current dynamics in Kenya’s taxi hailing industry, it’s easy to wake up and hear of a taxi hailing firm closing shop after a bitter price war with Uber.

Rocket Internet’s Easy Taxi recently announced it’ll focus its resources on LatAM, it’s earlier market than Africa and Asia where Uber has taken root. Unfortunately, the two firms share Goldman Sachs as an investor and the exit might be more strategic than market failure.

Today, MARAMOJA Transport announced it has introduced luxury cars on its fleet to give its users the comfort they deserve.

“MARAMOJA has partnered with Exec Cars, a Kenyan company dedicated to ensuring Nairobians get to their destination in a safe, comfortable, and reliable manner,” announced the firm. “Their fleet comprises Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Mercedes, Range Rover and Land Cruiser V8 vehicles, all fitted with GPS trackers and Satellite Navigation. Their chauffeurs are University graduates who truly define the experience, all have been through extensive customer service training to make you feel like a VIP. Exec Cars also offers Armed and unarmed close protection and Airport fast track service.”

The firm added that the rides are available for anyone whether they need a ride home after a party or to get to the airport, to get to a meeting in style or impress a client, all one has to do is open their MARAMOJA App and request luxury.

MARAMOJA adds that the luxury service is currently on pilot a select places and times but users can tap luxury in the app to stay updated on when MM luxury is available near them.

The firm also announced it has ditched Boda Boda’s for sometime, maybe because it didn’t get enough orders as the motorcycle taxis are available at every corner and no one needs to turn on their data, use an app to hail a Boda Boda twice as expensive as the normal price.

“MARAMOJA is very proud to have been the first to offer Boda Boda service through an app last year. Now, you might have noticed that our boda boda pilot project quietly wrapped up after 6 great months of rides and learning,” MARAMOJA said. “Don’t worry boda bodas aren’t gone for good. We are taking all that learning we did and restructuring the service to ensure you an excellent experience every time. Keep on the lookout for the relaunch.”

According to the update, MARAMOJA has also updated its clunky web app and added some cool features and clean code. Most times the web app was unresponsive and a user could confirm more than three taxis at the same time or have no drivers in their area totally.

“After several months of work, MARAMOJA’s unfathomably dedicated engineering and design teams have rebuilt MM’s web app from the bottom up. New look, new feel, new features, new codebase. We’ve cleansed the scourge of our PHP legacy from the app and are now fresh and clean with Node.js and React.”

Though MARAMOJA did not give an update of how many rides it has served so far, this is itself a sign of life after riders and the public claimed the firm might be running its last lap to shut down. Uber last week announced it has facilitated over a million trips through the platform since its launch in the country 15 months ago.