Despite moves by the Government of Jamaica, led by the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, to clamp down on inDrive’s local operation in 2024, the ride-hailing app was the most downloaded in its category in Jamaica for that year.

In a press release, inDrive, referring to combined data from Sensor Tower and data.ai, said the ride-hailing app led downloads in 11 markets in the travel category in 2024, including Egypt, Morocco, Nepal, Panama, and Jamaica.

Across the globe, the app was the second most downloaded in the travel category. In December 2024 alone, the inDrive app was downloaded over 6.1 million times.

Commenting on the achievement, Arsen Tomsky, inDrive founder and CEO, said: “It is an incredible achievement for inDrive to maintain its position as the second most downloaded ride-hailing app worldwide. This is a testament to the hardworking individuals behind the app—our global team— consistently working to improve and add value for our users, while never losing sight of our goal to provide fair services and improve people’s lives.

“inDrive has been working relentlessly to facilitate mobility services at a fair price, and create meaningful earning opportunities for workers in underserved communities. It is an honour to see our efforts reflected once again in the latest data for app downloads.”

In addition to ride-hailing, inDrive offers financial services, city-to-city transportation, freight and courier delivery across 888 cities. The company began trialling its financial services offering, inDrive.Money, in Mexico and Colombia last year. The new feature aims to help make lending more accessible to drivers and aligns with inDrive’s wider mission to improve the lives of at least 1 billion people by 2030.

Ban, outcry and recommendations

In June 2024, Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz called for a ban on the use of ride-sharing apps after the disappearance of 29-year-old St Catherine teacher Danielle Anglin, who was reportedly using ride-hailing app inDrive at the time. Anglin’s skeletal remains were later discovered in a densely vegetated area in Torrington district, Salt River, Clarendon, on June 3, and 45-year-old taxi driver Lascelles Morgan was charged by the police with the murder and disappearance of the educator.

While calling for the ban in his parliamentary presentation, the minister said he had written to the country’s two telecommunications providers indicating concerns raised by citizens about their safety while using ride-sharing apps. He also instructed Flow and Digicel “to restrict access, in Jamaica, to all ride-hailing applications via its network”.

“This is just one of several cases where the police have evidence that ride-sharing apps have been used for criminal activity. So, it’s not just the unfortunate loss of life on the weekend; there are several cases. With a letter from the police to the Minister with responsibility for telecommunications, I have a responsibility to act and I am standing here today, acting and I will do everything to ensure whatever is in the way we clear it until such time when we have a regulated formula to introduce it,” he said then.

Vaz’s call for a ban was, however, met with public outcry for being heavy-handed.

The minister eventually met with inDrive executives to ensure the implementation of security measures to protect passengers.

In the aftermath of the ride-hailing app ban debacle, the Fair Trading Commission in late July 2024 announced that it would conduct research on the benefits of ride-haling platforms with a view to sharing recommendations.