MOROCCO – Algerian based ride hailing app Yassir has in October this year expanded its operations into Morocco with the launch of night taxi services in the country’s largest city, Casablanca.

The taxi hailing mobile app service is coming into Morocco to replace the vacuum left by Uber which suspended its operations in the Maghreb country in February 2018 after taxi drivers went on strike claiming unfair competition from Uber.

Although the application works in the same ways as the ridesharing service Uber, it employs a different engage formula with drivers.

Unlike Uber, which is popularly known for working with independent drivers, Yassir works directly with the actual taxis, thus making it attractive to a market that proved to be too hostile for Uber.

Yassir uses the address of a customer’s destination, as well as their current location to put them in contact with an available taxi driver who is already nearby and offers both the driver and the passenger the chance to rate each other.

During the app’s launch, Yassir proprietors said that the service is only available between 8 pm and 7 am, a period when it is difficult for travellers to find a taxi, and for drivers to find passengers.

“We conducted a study to understand the difficulties that both passengers and drivers face and found out that passengers cannot find a taxi and drivers cannot find customers at night. Our services will satisfy both sides,” said the general director of “Yassir” in Morocco, Rachid Moulay El Ghazi.

Users of the Yassir app are expected to pay higher than normal taxi fares because of the upgraded service that they are expected to enjoy from the app.

Mr. El Ghazi emphasized the agreement between the app creators and taxi drivers, to avoid the problems that arose in the past between taxi drivers and other independent drivers.

The agreement was signed Last summer with the Democratic Syndicate of Transports and it allows taxi drivers to work with the application.

Drivers willing to work with the app however need to meet a number of requirements before they registered.

The requirements state that the drivers willing to work for the company need to be the owners of their cars which should be less than five years old.

They must also undertake regular training, especially in conflict management to continue working with Yassir.

The company says that it has future plans to expand its operations to other Moroccan cities and to offer more services which may include food delivery to Moroccans.

“Yassir” was created in 2007 in Algeria. It currently operates in the three North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.