Pakistan has been named the biggest contributor to the popular ride-sharing app Careem for achieving the milestone of completing one billion rides globally, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

According to the statement, Careem celebrated 1bn ride-hailing trips across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan.

“Careem captains have driven over 9bn kilometres across more than 80 cities over ten years,” it said, adding that Pakistan recorded 299 million rides — the highest so far — followed by 242m rides in Saudi Arabia and 230m in Egypt.

The press release added that the longest ride covered 1,113km from Riyadh to Jazan in Saudi Arabia in 2020 whereas the shortest ride was a 200m trip in Lahore.

“Careem has more than 50m registered customers and 2.5m registered captains that have collectively earned over $4bn up to date,” the statement said. “The highest number of trips recorded by a Careem captain is 35,139 trips in Jordan,” it added.

It highlighted that the highest number of rides booked by a customer in Saudi Arabia was over 9,500.

The press release further said the one billionth trip was completed in Qatar by Captain Razak Uppattil who hails from India’s Kerala and has been working with the company for four years. He has completed 10,500 trips on the platform.

To celebrate the milestone, Careem gifted Uppattil a trip to his hometown in Kerala.

“I thank God to have completed the 1 billionth trip. I have been at Careem for about four years and have so many favourite moments. It’s the people that I get to meet from all over the world that I really enjoy. I have three children back home in Kerala, India, and I am so excited to see them soon,” the press release quoted him as saying.

The statement also named Genera Tesora from the Philippines as the one billionth passenger. She completes more than 50 trips per month.

As a reward, Careem gifted her ride-hailing trips for one year as a token of appreciation.

Commenting on the achievement, Careem CEO and Co-founder Mudassir Sheikha said, “Reaching the incredible milestone of 1bn rides is thanks to the hard work of our Captains and colleagues as well as the trust that our customers have placed in us.

“We feel blessed to have made it easier for people to move around and to have created earning opportunities for more than 2.5m people. The opportunity ahead is large and humbling — our region is full of untapped potential and there’s so much more we must do to simplify and improve life for people in the region.”

According to the press release, the ride-hailing app’s first ride took place in UAE in September 2012 and was booked manually.

“Careem expanded in popularity across the region as the first ride-hailing platform to offer cash payments,” it added. “The percentage of Careem rides paid for digitally has grown from 31 per cent in 2016 to 44pc in 2022.”

The statement concluded that “Careem offers over a dozen services including ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, micro-mobility, payments, and partner services including home cleaning, car rental, event bookings and on-demand laundry services.”