There’s not one solution for everywhere, but we believe that everywhere has a solution – we just need to match them up and get people moving.
According to the UN, 55 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68 per cent by 2050 – and commuting to and from those urban areas, there will be an incredible demand for various modes of transport.
One of the reasons cities are becoming more congested is because increasingly people are having to move there to work. A daily commute into a city might mean having to buy a car, but a car is still a luxury for the broad part of the population in many countries where we operate, so if Careem can provide an alternative transport then we can move people in, around and out of a city for less.
Shared mobility could lead to an 80 per cent reduction in the number of vehicles by 2050. In turn this reduces pollution and C02 emissions, congestion and need for parking and parking spaces. Around 50 hours per person every month are spent in traffic and 60 percent of trips only have one passenger per vehicle, so pooling is our focus of shared transport in 2018.
A lack of mobility in our region has held back economic growth. Mobility is severely constrained and has limited economic opportunity for a talented and driven workforce. We are determined to overcome local challenges so that we can simplify mobility for the people and we hope to contribute to the rebuilding of their economies. Rather than people needing to buy a car to get to a job, Careem is offering a way for them to get to work, and in doing do, creating a job for someone else.
We look at what fits the distinct makeup of each location, and if you look at the markets where we are present, we have tried to reduce prices and make our service more affordable while doing so. It’s often said that we are all moving from an owning culture to a sharing one and carpooling is one other way to achieve the affordability of the service and reduce congestion on the roads – we currently run a car-pooling service in Alexandria, Jeddah and Amman. Carpooling like this reduces the number of cars on the road as well as reducing traffic congestion, which in turn means the cars are out there for less time on each journey.
Booking a ride when you are getting ready to go to work, family gathering or to a night out with friends at the click of a button is the easiest most reliable way to guarantee you will never be late or won’t have to stand on the road for a good 15 – 20 minutes depending on luck to find a ride. We tell you exactly when will your ride reach, call and sms to notify you instantly when it does and our captains will even wait for you if you run a bit late!
Since launching, Careem has rapidly grown and created around 1,000,000 jobs and we are creating between 60,000 and 70,000 new jobs every month as the Careem model for moving people expands into more cities and countries across the region.
It’s our mission at Careem to simplify and improve lives, and in doing so we are helping the places in which we are present change the way they commute, move, work and live for the better.