Yango Starts Testing Taxi in Dubai

Starting from today, Dubai citizens have another app to order taxi - Yango. According to the company, it has launched a taxi test in Dubai on a pilot basis, as the company is interested in expanding into new markets, including the Middle East.

Yango works in the same way as Careem. Users can choose two classes of travel: Comfort and Premier.

The comfort class is designed “for everyday relaxing rides.”

Premium class is represented by such cars as GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade, Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7. There is a phone charger and a water bottle in the cabin.

As for the cost of travel, the ride in the Comfort Coase from Dubai International Airport to the Burj Khalifa will cost around AED64, while the Premiere will cost AED69.5. In general, Yango appears to be cheaper than Uber (Yes, we tested it).

It should be noted, that Yandex offers its users a wider range of additional services than Careem and Uber. If other Yandex services come to Dubai, users will enjoy access to Yandex Plus subscription, which in other countries offers access to video streaming, music, delivery and taxi services as well as some cashback.

We decided to test the service and here is what we got.

A big GMC car arrived to take us on a short trip. Interestingly, the driver, who appeared to be extremely polite and helpful, told us that Yango started offering its taxi services in Dubai yesterday, September 15.

Inside the car we also found branded water and some other cool things.

Yandex, which is often called the “Google of Russia,” offers its users a wide range of services comprising an entire ecosystem. In December last year Yandex planned to launch its autonomous delivery rovers in Dubai but has not yet started the service.

Among the MENA countries, Yandex has a wide presence in Israel offering taxi and delivery services as well as programming and cloud computing. It also looked into opportunities to transfer the company's HQ to Tel Aviv.