Almost simultaneously earlier this month, Uber and its Russian competitor Yandex.Taxi announced their expansion to Odessa, a major city in southern Ukraine.
Both companies offer their services at the same minimum price of 14 hryvnias (roughly 50 cents at the current exchange rate). However, unlike Uber, which supports both cash and cashless payments, Yandex.Taxi accepts only cash payments.
Yandex.Taxi and Uber entered the Ukrainian market in 2016. A competitor form Estonia, Taxify, also launched in the country last year.
As of today, Yandex.Taxi partners with 15 local taxi companies and 350 cars, which include Tesla Model S.
Odessa is the fourth Ukrainian city after Kyiv (Kiev), Kharkiv (Kharkov) and Dnipro (Dnepr) for Yandex.Taxi and the second one for Uber to cover so far.
The services mostly target modern-minded young people and foreigners who come to the city, wrote Olga Lumerovskaya, an Odessa resident, The Odessa Review.
“Most people, accustomed to calling a taxi by phone or committed to a specific taxi company, might not be swayed by the new services,” she adds.
Sources: Yandex, Uber, AIN.UA.
