Uber and Careem in Egypt: how ride-hailing works

Egypt took to ride-hailing early and argued about it loudly. In 2016 taxi drivers in Cairo organised protests and sit-ins demanding that the government block Uber and Careem, and the government’s answer was not to ban them but to write rules that made them legal and gave their drivers protection.

A decade later the apps are part of how the country moves.

Two apps with one owner

Uber and Careem both operate in Egypt. Uber bought Careem in 2020, in a deal worth about 3.1 billion dollars, and kept the brand alive as a separate business rather than folding it in. So the two apps compete for the same journey while sharing an owner, which is unusual and does not matter much to a passenger.

The practical reason to install both is coverage. One app may have cars in your street at that hour and the other may not, particularly outside the centre of a city or late at night.

Careem has grown beyond rides into food, groceries and payments across the region, and Uber operates its own Egyptian service with a country site.

How it works in practice

The mechanics are the same as anywhere. You set a pickup point and a destination, the app shows a price, and you accept or do not. The driver comes to you and the route is recorded.

Three local details are worth knowing.

The first is that cash is a normal payment method, not a fallback. Many passengers pay in cash, so a driver will not be surprised, and it is a reasonable choice if you would rather not use a card abroad.

The second is that the pickup point matters more than in Europe. Cairo traffic and one-way systems mean the app may ask you to walk to a corner, and meeting a driver in a busy street is easier if you are standing where the map says rather than where you think you are.

The third is that drivers may message or call to confirm. If your phone has no voice line, use the in-app messaging, and set your location pin carefully so there is nothing to clarify.

What it costs

Fares are set by the app and shown before you accept, which is the whole advantage. In a city where you do not yet know what a trip should cost, a fixed number is worth more than a small saving.

Prices move with demand, so a rainy evening or a Friday night costs more than a Tuesday morning. Surge pricing is normal and disclosed before you accept rather than after.

A street taxi can beat the app on a short trip where you know the rate. It can also cost several times more, and the difference is decided entirely by whether you agreed the price before getting in.

The airport run, and the first ride

Cairo airport is where a visitor either has a smooth arrival or a memorable one, and the difference is decided in the first ten minutes.

Walk past the drivers who approach you inside arrivals. Go to the official rank, or open the app once you have a connection and follow the pickup instructions, which at Cairo airport point to a specific area rather than the terminal kerb. Both apps operate there and both show a price before you commit.

If you are arriving late and the app has no cars, an arranged hotel transfer is the answer. It is worth booking for that reason alone rather than for comfort: a pre-booked car is the only option that does not depend on a connection, a rank or a negotiation at one in the morning.

Tipping your driver

Tipping a driver is normal in Egypt, and the app makes it easy. You may be offered the chance to add a tip when you pay, or you can simply hand over the change in cash.

A few pounds on a short trip and more on a long one. Rounding the fare up to the next note is what most people do, and a driver who carried your bags will expect a little more. It is a small amount of money and it is the difference between a transaction and a pleasant one.

Safety, briefly and practically

The app records the trip, the car and the driver, which a street taxi does not. That record is the main reason many visitors use it, particularly at night and particularly alone.

Check the plate number before you get in, sit in the back, and share the trip with someone if it is late. These are the same habits that work in every city, and they are what Egyptian passengers do too.

The data you need

Ride-hailing runs on data, not on a phone number. An eSIM for Egypt gives you that on arrival, and it is worth having it working before you leave the airport rather than standing in the arrivals hall trying to connect.

Two small preparations pay for themselves. Pin your hotel in the app while you still have wifi, so the first ride needs no typing. And keep a screenshot of the address in Arabic, because a driver may prefer to read it rather than follow a map.

For what a ride costs against the rest of your spending, what the Egyptian pound does gives you the scale, and calling Egypt covers the numbering if you do end up phoning a driver.

One last comparison worth making. Egypt has excellent, very cheap public transport in the metro and the bus network, and central Cairo is walkable in the cooler months. The apps are for the trips that neither of those covers, and that is most of them after about nine in the evening.