From Accra to Damascus by Uber

At the time of writing, yours truly has just returned from Accra, the capital of Ghana, that beautiful West African country. Mrs Nyack and I had been invited by a Ghanaian friend to take a short holiday there. While there, we travelled extensively across Accra city and got a reasonable view of how traffic worked.

UBER IN ACCRA Accra is a large city, possibly greater in area than London but with a much smaller population. There are several ways of getting about the city: by foot, car, minibus (tro-tro) or by taxi/minicab. Uber operates there, so we were able to use minicabs, and it was fascinating to see how it worked there.

The taxis and minicabs in Accra are tiny and would fail TfL’s size limits, while the majority have no air-conditioning. However, the drivers are extremely skilled in navigating the traffic of Accra and getting us from A to B.

Kojo, the driver we hired for a few days, lives just outside of Greater Accra and is married with three children at school. A highschool graduate with a professional qualification, he previously worked in a restaurant. He became an Uber driver because of the flexibility it provided, enabling him to take the kids to and from school and give help to a disabled relative.

He rents his car for which he pays about four days earnings. Kojo has to pay for his fuel and insurance. Servicing and repairs are meant to be undertaken by the hirer, but Kojo says the person “flaffs around” (my word) so much that he can lose several days earnings. Instead, he undertakes the servicing himself.

The roads in Accra and Ghana consist of two-lane roads interspersed with some stretches of motorway. The quality of these highways is generally good, but with some seriously bad stretches. However, there are ongoing repairs, renewals and new-builds taking place. If you are frustrated by the daily traffic jams on the approach to Bristol city centre from the M32, have sympathy for Kojo. The Accra traffic jams are a sight to behold with tro-tros, cars, motorbike trikes, tuk-tuks, 7-axle juggernauts and Kojo vying for space.

A typical trip to the centre of Accra would involve an almost continuous traffic crawl lasting more than two hours. The windows would have to be open otherwise we would roast in the car. At each junction we would be approached by vendors selling almost anything. from a range of hot and cold food, to bootlaces, books and groceries. “Listen”, Kojo told us, “If you want I am almost certain that you can buy a fridge or a set of furniture”.

How does Uber work in Accra? Very similar – but different. All drivers must have a smartphone. The jobs are allocated to the nearest driver to the pickup and, unlike London these days, the fares are calculated on a base fare and time & distance basis.

Where it is different is that payment is made to the driver by either cash or ‘mobile money’. The majority of the population holds money accounts on their phones (mobile money) and pay for goods and services by transfer to the provider’s phone.

At the end of each week, Uber sends a statement to the driver who then pays Uber its share. Failure to pay results in the driver’s account being suspended. Kojo told us he works seven days a week so as to buy a vehicle of his own. He hopes to achieve this in a few weeks.

Looking at his situation it is similar, I expect, to all Uber and other drivers, whether they work in London, Accra, New Delhi or New York. They are the ones who create the wealth for the owners of the apps, the owners of the vehicles, the insurance companies and others that feed off the drivers in this technological ecosystem.

SUPPORTING SADIQ – STOPPING POLLUTION

I am a child of the sixties. Not the flower-power part but the early sixties. This was the period when Britain finally emerged from the Second World War. At the time anyone talking about air pollution would not be tagged a “raging leftie” as the term had not yet been invented, but they would have been considered odd.

How else could you heat your house or flat, people would ask, other than burning coal and releasing the smoke into the atmosphere? Where would factories put their waste gases? Why didn’t Norway and Sweden mind their own business? We can’t help it if our smoke drifted over to their countries. That was nature and not our fault.

All of the above, coupled with petrol and diesel emissions from lorries and buses, led to the Great Smog. London Transport, as it then was, had just stopped using electric trolley buses and trams had long gone. It was awful, but had been tolerated until then. Following the deaths caused by this pollution, changes were introduced which reduced its effect.

Several decades later Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has sought to eliminate the internal combustion engine from London. I was opposed to the speed at which he sought to do this because of the financial impact on the drivers.

However, my journeys into Accra city centre became my road to Damascus, and I have undertaken a complete one-eighty. I would urge everyone to support the move away from the internal combustion engine.

Ghana is a beautiful country with a wonderful, friendly and generous people. It boasts lush countryside, pristine forests, the largest artificial lake in the world and some of the best beaches known to humanity. Nevertheless, the pollution in Accra is awful. We both suffered from stinging eyes and sore throats the morning of our first trip into town. What must be the health effects on the people of Accra?

If any person still opposes the need for clean air and removal of the internal combustion engine from our environment they should take a trip to Accra and spend a few days commuting across the city. Sadiq, keep up the good work.

Dennot is a AGM trade union member and was a former representative of the GMB’s professional drivers. He is also an author and broadcaster with a strong knowledge of the private hire industry and an equality and diversity specialist. email: dennotnyack@yahoo.com mobile: +44 0740 625 276