Kenya’s Little Cab Bracing For 33-Seater Minibus Launch

| January 11, 2019

Nairobi-based ride-hailing service Little Cab, is quietly giddying up to launch its 33-seater minibus service in Kenya, as part of its 2019 intentions to enable riders reserve seats and board minibuses at specific times of the day, aided by an easy-to-use mobile app.

According to a report, the Kenyan-based ride-hailing startup is going to roll out Little Shuttle along the Kangemis and Nextgen route with legal assistance from Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

The narrative from the company, according to Business Daily, the founding company, who is also owns Craft Silicon, led by Kamal Budhabhatti, said that Little Cab is expected to be a fine-tuned platform that will be piloted and customized to solve city logistic challenges. The startup is reported to collaborate with key industry players who have clean, larger vehicles with 33 seating capacity and above.

Competitor Uber, has also made public its intentions to roll out similar services in Kenya to follow its near-same implementation in Egyptian metropolises. The disparity, which appears to be a further effort by Little Cab to stand much chance against the global ride-hailing company, is that it schemes to expand its services further into Kampala and Dar es Salaam.

Little Cab is believed to have raised up to USD 12 Mn to finance this project, which will see buses doing rounds for the mobile convenience of Nairobians. While the service is yet in the pipeline, the man best known as the head of the company, Budhabhatti, has divulged that the piloting will be followed by software and operations setup, after which Little Cab would invite partners to put their vehicles on the platform, just like they have done with cars since 2017.