Terms of Service

These terms are a contract between you and Buraq Technologies, a company registered in Egypt (“Buraq”, “we”, “us”). They apply to the Buraq rider app, the Buraq captain app and our website at buraqegypt.com (together, the “service”). By creating an account or using the service you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use Buraq.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal data and forms part of this agreement. Captains also agree to the captain agreement shown during sign-up, which adds to these terms.

Buraq is a technology platform. It lets riders request a trip and connects them with independent drivers, whom we call captains, who choose whether to accept it. Buraq does not provide transport itself, does not employ captains and does not own their vehicles.

Captains are independent contractors. Each captain is responsible for their vehicle, their driving, their licences and insurance, and for complying with the law, including ride-hailing Law No. 87 of 2018. The transport contract for a trip is between the rider and the captain; Buraq’s role is to arrange it, to set and collect the fare through the platform, and to keep both sides safe.

Buraq is currently in beta and operates in Greater Cairo. Features may change, be added or be withdrawn while we learn.

• You must be 18 or older and able to enter into a binding contract.
• You need a mobile phone number that you control. We sign you in with a one-time code sent to it, or through Sign in with Apple or Google.
• The information you give us must be true and kept up to date.
• Your account is personal. Do not share it, sell it or let anyone else use it, and tell us at once if you believe someone else has access to it. You are responsible for what happens under your account until you do.
• One person, one account. We may close duplicate accounts.
• To drive, you must also meet the requirements in the captain app, pass our verification and hold the licences and documents the law requires.

When you request a trip, the app shows the ride options available, a fare for each and the payment method, before you confirm. A captain may then accept your request. Until a captain accepts, there is no trip.

The fare shown before you confirm is the fare you agree to, unless something changes during the trip. The fare may change if you add a stop, change the destination, ask the captain to wait beyond the free waiting time, or take a materially different route at your request. The app shows the new fare before you confirm a change where it can, and explains it on your receipt. Fares may also include tolls, waiting time, a booking fee and, at busy times, a higher rate; whatever applies is shown in the app before you confirm.

Estimates are estimates. Travel times depend on traffic, weather and road conditions that neither we nor the captain control.

During the beta, trips are paid in cash to the captain at the end of the trip, in Egyptian pounds, for the amount the app shows. Please carry enough cash or ask the captain in advance about change. Card payments may be introduced later; if they are, the app will show the option and these terms will be updated.

If a fare is not paid, for example because a rider leaves without paying, we may record it as an outstanding balance, ask you to settle it before your next trip and, if it remains unpaid, suspend your account. A receipt for every trip is available in the app.

You can cancel a trip in the app. Cancelling is free in the circumstances the app describes, for example shortly after a captain accepts. After that, or if you do not show up at the pickup point within the waiting time, a cancellation fee may apply. The app tells you before you confirm a cancellation whether a fee applies and how much, and the fee is shown on your receipt.

Captains may cancel too, for example if they cannot reach you or feel unsafe. A rider is never charged when the captain cancels. If a captain cancels repeatedly without good reason, we may limit or end their access.

Riders and captains treat each other with respect. Everyone using Buraq agrees to:

• Follow the law and the rules of the road, including seat belts.
• Never harass, threaten, discriminate against or harm another person, and never use abusive language in the app or in the car.
• Keep the vehicle clean and undamaged. A rider who damages or soils a vehicle may be asked to pay the reasonable cost of cleaning or repair, as documented by the captain.
• Not carry weapons, illegal substances, dangerous goods or more people than the vehicle has seat belts for.
• Not ask a captain to speed, break the law or go off the platform for a cash deal; and, for captains, not ask a rider to.
• Not record another person without their consent, except as the law allows.

Safety features

The app lets you share your trip with trusted contacts and offers an SOS button that alerts your trusted contacts, sends them your live location and shows you how to reach the emergency services. SOS does not call the emergency services for you. In an emergency, call them directly. Captains are verified before they drive, every trip is recorded with its route, and we investigate reported incidents.

If something goes wrong, report it in the app’s Help section or at support@buraqegypt.com. We may ask both sides what happened and act on what we find.

If you leave something in a vehicle, contact us through the app’s Help section or at support@buraqegypt.com as soon as you can, with the trip details. We will contact the captain and help you arrange a return. Captains are asked to hand in or return items they find. Buraq is not responsible for items left in a vehicle, and a captain may ask for a reasonable amount for the time and cost of returning an item.

After each trip the rider and the captain may rate each other and leave feedback. Ratings help keep the platform safe and courteous. Please rate honestly and about the trip itself. Ratings are shown as averages; we may remove feedback that is abusive, discriminatory or unrelated to the trip. Accounts with persistently low ratings may be limited or closed.

You may not:

• Use the service for anything unlawful, or to carry anything unlawful.
• Create an account with false details, impersonate another person, or use another person’s identity or documents.
• Interfere with the service: probing or attacking our systems, scraping data, reverse engineering the apps, or using bots, emulators, fake GPS or other tools to manipulate location, trips, ratings or earnings.
• Request or accept trips you do not intend to take or make, or arrange trips outside the platform with someone you met through it.
• Use Buraq to send unsolicited messages, to advertise, or to collect other users’ data.
• Copy, modify, distribute or sell any part of the service or its content.

We may suspend or close your account, or limit features, if you break these terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud or a safety risk, if the law requires it, or if your account is inactive for a long period. Where we can, we will tell you why and how to respond. During an investigation we may suspend an account temporarily.

You can close your account at any time from the Account section of the app or by writing to support@buraqegypt.com. Closing your account does not cancel amounts owed or disputes already open. Our Privacy Policy explains what happens to your data afterwards.

The Buraq name, wordmark, apps, website, designs, text and software belong to Buraq Technologies or its licensors and are protected by law. We give you a personal, limited, revocable licence to use the apps and website to access the service in line with these terms. You keep the rights to the content you submit, such as ratings and messages, and you give us a licence to use it to run, improve and protect the service.

We work hard to keep Buraq reliable, but we provide the service as it is and as available. We do not promise that it will always be available, free of errors or interruptions, or that a captain will be available when and where you want one. Maps, estimated times and estimated fares depend on third-party data and real-world conditions and may be inaccurate.

Because captains are independent, we do not guarantee the quality or safety of any particular trip or vehicle, though we verify captains and act on reports. These disclaimers apply only to the extent Egyptian law allows and do not limit rights that the law gives you and that cannot be excluded.

To the extent Egyptian law allows, Buraq is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost profits, lost data, or loss arising from a captain’s or rider’s acts or omissions, from events outside our reasonable control, or from your own breach of these terms. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount the law allows.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be excluded or limited under Egyptian law.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Arab Republic of Egypt. If you have a problem, please contact us first at support@buraqegypt.com or legal@buraqegypt.com; most issues can be sorted out quickly. Any dispute that cannot be resolved that way falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of Cairo, without prejudice to any right you have under Egyptian law to bring a claim before another competent authority.

We may change these terms as the service and the law change. The date at the top shows the latest version. For changes that matter, we will tell you in the app or by message before they take effect. If you keep using Buraq after a change takes effect, you accept the new terms; if you do not agree, you can close your account.

If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, the rest continues to apply. If we do not enforce a term straight away, we may still do so later. These terms are written in English and Arabic; in the event of a conflict, the Arabic version prevails before the Egyptian courts.

For help with a trip or your account, use the Help section of the app or write to support@buraqegypt.com. For legal matters, including these terms, write to legal@buraqegypt.com. Buraq Technologies is registered in Egypt; our registered address is available on request.