Ride-hailing company Careem has extended its services to the
southern Iraqi city of Basra in the latest expansion for the company. It
currently operates in Baghdad and Najaf and has an ongoing pilot
project in Erbil. The service will use existing taxis throughout the city,
catering to a population of around 2.5 million.
“We
are proud to launch our services in Basra today, an important strategic
location for us and look forward to serving the people and create job
opportunities for the youth of this great city,” said Mohamed Al Hakim, the
general manager of Careem Iraq. “Within the next five years, our vision is to
serve hundreds of thousands of customers and create more than 10,000 job
opportunities in Basra.”
Basra
is Iraq’s second-largest city by population after Baghdad, where Careem
started services in January last year. It is home to Iraq’s main port and is
also where the majority of the country’s oil production takes place.
There
is no public transportation in Basra besides privately-operated minibuses that
serve dedicated routes but have no timetable or scheduled stops. Taxi
prices are currently unmetered, so Careem’s app will provide more accurate
pricing, while remaining at the same level as taxis.
In
an interview with The
National last month, Mr Al Hakim said that expanding to major
Iraqi cities and provinces would be one of Careem’s focuses in the next few
months. It is currently in a pilot phase in Erbil, the capital city of Iraqi
Kurdistan.
The
challenges of operating in the country include security concerns, low
smartphone penetration, and limitations to digital and physical infrastructure,
such as internet service interruptions, a lack of digital mapping and road
closures.
However, Careem has found ways to work around these challenges.
Mr Al Hakim said the Iraq team visits closed roads to send co-ordinates to
Google and allows customers to book by phone during internet cut-offs. Careem
has mapped 15,000 locations so far.
“Our
technology is helping create employment opportunities and providing essential
mobility for millions of people in Iraq,” said Mudassir Sheikha, chief
executive and a co-founder of Careem. “I hope our presence here will encourage
other companies to set up business in Iraq and join us in helping to rebuild
and improve the infrastructure of the nation.”
Careem,
which was bought by Uber for $3.1 billion (Dh11.39bn) in March, operates
in 98 cities across 15 countries.