Dubai: Drivers of a private online chauffeur service in Dubai earned over Dh45,000 in tips, thanks to a unique initiative launched during Ramadan.
Mudassir Shaikha, founder of www.careem.com told XPRESS that it launched its ‘Careem Giving’ initiative at the start of Ramadan, under which it promised to match every tip that every driver made during the fasting month.
“We have more than 500 drivers and they collected Dh22,523 in tips from passengers during this period. We matched the amount and they made a total of Dh45,046,” he said. While most of the tips ranged from Dh5 to Dh20, Shaikha said: “Our records show that some drivers were even tipped Dh50 and Dh100. Our drivers were very heartened because unlike other parts of the world, the tipping culture is not quite prevalent here.”
He said passengers using Careem usually book the private taxis on its website or through the Careem mobile app, providing pick-up and drop-off locations with the time. “Once a car is confirmed and dispatched, the car and driver information can be tracked in real time. When the ride ends, passengers don’t need to scramble for cash or wait for the driver to process their credit card. We put the charge on the credit card on file.”
During the Ramadan initiative, he said an intimation was sent out to Careem’s 60,000-plus customer database in the region. All a passenger needed to do was to specify the tip when they got the option to ‘rate their ride’ via an SMS.
A TIP10 entry meant giving Dh10, an amount that was immediately added in equal measure to the driver’s account by Careem.
