Uber officially announced that everyone in Nairobi can now pay using cash and mobile money starting today, after the successful conclusion of a two month payment pilot.

Nairobi is one of the fastest growing cities internationally for Uber following the launch of the cash test pilot.  It showed there was huge pent up demand for the Uber service as new rider sign-ups and referrals increased five fold.

The Kenyan capital is the first city in Africa and only the second city in the world to be able to pay for an Uber trip by cash, following a similar test in Hyderabad, India that commenced on 12 May 2015.

Riders have access to all the current Uber features but can simply choose the CASH payment option, take a ride and pay their driver directly in cash at the end of the trip.

Nairobi and Hyderabad were the first two cities selected for this experiment because they provided Uber with the right environment to test a new payment option among a sizeable and sophisticated rider and driver community. Following the cash pilots in Nairobi and Hyderabad cash payments have been rolled out across five other cities in India.

Alon Lits, Regional General Manager for sub Saharan Africa, said “The interest in Uber in Nairobi has been amazing. Nairobi is one of the most innovative cities on the continent and cash payments is one of the innovations we have made for the Nairobi market.”