Alternative services to use during the public transport ban in Uganda

Yesterday, the president banned the use of public transport in Uganda for 14 days following an increase in registered cases of coronavirus in the country.

The ban affects the use of buses, minibusses, taxis and Boda Boda’s, the majority of which are used by Ugandans to move goods, food, parcels among others.

However, cargo services and private vehicles are allowed to move but limited to only 3 people, inclusive of the driver.

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For those that don’t own cars, here are tech-based alternatives you can opt for to move around, order for food and deliver packages.

Ride-Hailing Services 

• Uber
  Launched in 2016 in Uganda, Uber is a ride-hailing service where users can request for both cars and bikes to move from point A to point B but mostly limited to Kampala & Entebbe. It can, however, go to other areas of the country provided the ride is ordered within the aforementioned areas.
  In Uganda, the current services are Uber X, the cheapest option with mostly sedans and UberBoda for those with a preference for bikes.
  It’s pricing structure takes into consideration the basic fare, time spent on the road and other factors like availability of cars among others. Their apps are available on both Android & iOS.
  
• SafeBoda 
  SafeBoda is the ultimate Boda hailing service characterised by their orange reflectors labeled with names and numbers of riders.
  
  Much like Uber, SafeBoda offers ride-hailing services in and around Kampala but goes beyond ride-hailing to even offer delivery services of packages and food among other things. Their cashless option even avoids the necessity of carrying cash and all one needs is to load credits on their account to use the service.
  
• Little 
  Little is also a ride-hailing service but best known for its Kenyan roots. It has been quiet not until recently that it upped its fleet by onboarding more drivers on the platform to better compete with Uber and Bolt. 
  The mechanics for all are the same but pricing and quality of service are what defines each individual service. It is available for both Android & iOS devices.
  
• Bolt 
  Bolt is the successor to Taxify. It doesn’t differ much from Uber and pretty much employs the same business model. It also has a Boda hailing service marked by green reflectors though these haven’t been a common site recently with the onslaught of SafeBoda. Their main focus is however ride-hailing.
  

Food Delivery Services

• Jumia Food
  Jumia Food is like the last man standing when it comes to diversified food delivery services.
  While the majority of the services listed above are into ride-hailing services, some people will need to eat and this is where Jumia food comes in. It has an assortment of restaurants in different areas around Kampala & Entebbe from which you can order food & drinks at different times of the day. 
  Other food-related delivery services within the Jumia stable include Party for delivery of alcoholic beverages, Supermarket for groceries & everyday essentials, Pharmacy for medication and personal care products among others.
  
• Cafe Javas
  The famed restaurant recently made forays into food delivery services and with this, it launched its standalone app of the same name. It also came with a fleet of food delivery bikes in areas around their restaurants. The Cafe Javas app is available on both Android and iOS devices.
  
• KFC & Pizza Hut
  Powered by Jumia Food, these standalone apps can help you order meals from the respective restaurant chains so long as you’re within areas that they serve. 
  

Not Forgetting Logistics 

• Go Del 
  Go Del is a delivery service but the beauty about it is it covers almost the majority of the country. They employ a fleet of cars, bikes, and vans to deliver packages from point A to point B, help you track the progress of the package among other services geared towards making delivery of goods seamless.
  Where they differ from the rest is they charge per kg and additional Kgs are also charged differently.
  
• Sendy
  Sendy is a logistics company that delivers packages using a fleet of cars, trucks, bikes, vans among others. Its only differentiator is it tends to focus on business to business customers and this can explain why it covers a wonder geo-area that includes neighboring countries like Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, DRC, South Sudan among others.