Was inevitable. Great timing too.
http://techcabal.com/2016/01/11/uber-lagos-is-testing-the-cash-payment-option/
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Always good to have multiple payment options, but I’d hate to be the drivers who now have to deal with managing “change” and carrying sums of cash around.
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Definitely a good save from them. People uncomfortable with this would have to question the root cause of the failure of electronic payments in Nigeria instead. Interested in how homegrown services like Jekalo, Afrocab, etc handle payments though. Everyday enter your card details on Interswitch webpay, or cash exchange?
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Erm before uber, I believe cash is standard/default form of transaction in Nigeria. Taxi/cab included, and so everyone should fine handling change and carrying sums around.
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But for most regular taxi drivers around Nigeria, the fare is a round number and looks like N500 or N4000, not like N2323.23 or N4235.00. How exactly are you going to make change for that?
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Just round up to the nearest hundred I guess, anybody “rich” enough to use Uber will not want to waste their time arguing over #75.54 change.
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And just like that, the Uber allure besides the vehicle being “premium” goes out of the window.
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Uber isn’t premium because of the transaction mode. I believe it’s the other things like the one tap request, the kind of car and its unbrandedness. I don’t know if that’s an actual word.
Besides I’m confident there will still be card option.
Bottle of Heneiken for you. Drivers will even love that.
I’m really gonna miss hopping out of my premium ride, no questions asked, no awkwardness or riffling through pockets.
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How is this a riposte? She’s highlighting an obviously worse UX and you counter with “but we didn’t die before”. In some regard this has its benefits but you can disregard the fact that card > cash in almost every situation.
One of the reasons the service is beautiful is because I don’t have to worry about cash exchange and me carrying cash around. It’s nice they are bringing cash payment option but they should look into ways of fixing the current major issue - the difference in the charge on “paper” and on card.
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The people who don’t like cash can pay with card, it gives you more swag when you tell people you just paid for your ride in hard currency 
#trolling
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Uber accepts cash in India. Uber is in business to make people from x to y, and if they realize having to strictly use card is not helping that cause, I don’t see how that is a UX problem.
It is fancy not to use cash but Nigeria is predominantly cash unless we just want to deceive ourselves. If that is the case however, awesome. Uber as a company is merely adapting its services to the Nigerian realities. In fact, I see this as a better UX.
Noooo! I just hope it doesn’t affect the core experience of hopping in and out of a cab without a bother. I guess drivers will now have to add having available change to the things they need to do for a five star rating
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In Kenya, people almost never bother about change, because M-Pesa. You can send them cash to the nearest decimal if you want. 
Imagine GTBank adding 737 option for Uber rides! That’s the closest we have to MPesa
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Definitely prefer the customer experience of cashless payments but not surprised Uber added cash payments.
The decision was probably hastened by the current problem they face where there’s a difference between the fare you see in the Uber app, and the actual fare that gets deducted by your bank.
Cash payments is a success in india so will be interesting to see how it does in Nigera.
I’m bothered that instead of addressing the dollar conversion issue they’re focusing on this but whatever I guess. Rarely use the thing.
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