Paper short abstract:

Rideshare driving is a common form of employment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This paper explores the attitudes and beliefs of the drivers and users of a ride sharing app in Dar es Salaam drawing on history and political economy.

Paper long abstract:

Driving for a rideshare app is now a common form of employment (or underemployment) in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Clients include Tanzanians, tourists and expatriate workers. For those who use the service, it has generated a range of opinions including happiness with cheaper prices to frustration of non-Swahili speaking clients with non-English speaking drivers for not arriving on time. For the drivers themselves, the consistent complaint is that they do not earn enough as drivers. Ride share apps in Tanzania, then, generates a range of beliefs and attitudes by its users and drivers. Using an anthropological political economy approach, this paper will examine these beliefs and attitudes. The paper has three parts. Part one will give an overview of the employment situation for ride share drivers in Dar es Salaam which is characterised by a chronic lack of employment, underemployment and a massive informal economy. The second part explores the beliefs and attitudes of customers who celebrate and/or complain about the ride share service in Dar es Salaam. The third part examines the frustrations of rideshare drivers in the context of attempts at collective action by some drivers.