Ride-sharing apps like Uber, DiDi and Lyft may have driven across much of the globe, but they haven’t yet rolled into Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — Ride-sharing apps like Uber, DiDi and Lyft may have driven across much of the globe, but they haven’t yet rolled into Venezuela, where U.S. sanctions and years of hyperinflation and other woes made it difficult to operate.

So a handful of local entrepreneurs have started their own ride-sharing apps — and appear to be finding a welcome from customers frustrated by scarce taxis, aging buses and a decrepit subway system.

Department store buyer Maria Arreaza, 39, had long depended on public transportation to reach her downtown office and was intrigued by advertisements for the new Ridery app, though initially skeptical.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do a test.’ I made a request for a service and the application seemed super friendly. I kept trying, I asked for more services … (and) so I became a high-frequency user.”

So much so that when her mother spent almost two months hospitalized due to COVID-19, she requested at least four rides a day to the hospital and then home or to work.

Ridery is one of at least three Venezuelan ride-sharing apps that launched during the pandemic — and which have taken advantage of a de facto switch of currencies from the Venezuelan bolivar to the U.S. dollar that has helped rein in years of skyrocketing inflation. The new services set their prices in dollars and allow riders to pay with bank cards or transfer services rather than bills.

Public transportation across the country is a mix of public and private ventures, all of which have been on the decline. Some of the buses around Caracas are so old they have earned nicknames like “The Immortal,” while others have proven all too mortal due to a lack of parts or maintenance.

Portions of the city’s subway system are often out of service. Meanwhile, fewer taxi stands operate around the city after years of hyperinflation and outward migration obliterated much of the middle class that patronized them.

Pickpocketing, sweat and noxious fumes are common at the street-level and underground transportation.

All also struggle with payment methods, in part due to the scarcity of bolivars. The public system does not accept foreign currency and private operators cannot easily give people change when the fare does not round up to amounts matching dollar bills: Quarters, dimes and nickels are not in circulation.