‘Avoid offline trips because of accidents and emergencies’ – Bolt warns e-hailing drivers and passengers

e-Hailing company, Bolt has warned drivers and passengers operating on its app to desist from using its platform to negotiate offline trips. According to the company, going on offline trips disables GPS tracking and such drivers are only putting themselves and their passengers in serious jeopardy.

This is coming in the wake of an e-hailing drivers’ strike through which the drivers demanded an increase in fares on e-hailing platforms, following an increase in fuel prices. The strike, which lasted for 5 days, was eventually called off by the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON). However, none of the demands of the striking drivers had been met.

These demands include a 200% increase in fares (Bolt and Uber only managed 15% and 25% respectively) and a slash of the app companies’ commissions by 50% or accept a flat rate of 10%. They also demanded that passengers be given various discounts to encourage them to continue using taxi-hailing services.

With the demands not being met, it becomes difficult to see how the drivers would make good profit from the business as it is. To many of them, they simply can’t cope unless a commensurate increase in fares collected was instituted. To be fair, prices of independent transporters like danfo and public buses have doubled in many places.

Breaking it down, a driver told Technext that:

25 litres of fuel used to be N4600 and we always make up to N25,000 with it. Commission on N25,000 work is around N6,250 depending on the app used. Now that 25 litres is now N12,200 and if we still have to battle with the old fare and same commission, N12,200 for fuel will still give you N6,250 for commission. So how do u buy fuel the following day to work talk less of profit? We have to reason it well b4 jumping to the street to work

To this end, there are projections that offline trips would witness a huge rise as drivers, in a bid to give themselves a chance to earn more, will merely use ride-hailing apps for hailing before proceeding to reach offline agreements with riders. This trend, which existed in patches before, is already rising.

Indeed, while calling off the strike, the AUATWON, in its statement, had called on drivers to “work with wisdom”, a phrase that has been interpreted by many drivers to mean, negotiate your own price and give yourself a chance.

Technext asked Bolt if it wasn’t bothered about this possibility. The company’s response suggested that it was as it went ahead to “strongly discourage” the use of its platform for offline trips, stating that it puts the safety of both drivers and passengers at risk.

We strongly discourage the use of the platform by drivers and/or riders to access contacts, and to negotiate for offline trips. This is because taking trips offline, turns off the app’s GPS tracking and SOS coverage, thereby, neither the driver, nor the rider is traceable on the platform in case of accidents, or emergencies.

Bolt

Offline trips might become the new normal

Offline trips are not new in the ride-hailing industry. It started with drivers, upon picking up a passenger, sharing their numbers personally with the passenger ‘in case of next time’. The idea is for the driver not to bother using the app in the future but simply give them a call and they will be right there.

But that system wouldn’t be much of a success for various reasons. First is that the driver is hardly close by and available whenever the rider calls them directly. Sometimes they could be up to 2 hours away. One of the benefits of e-hailing is that there is always a driver ready to come pick you up, usually before 10 minutes.

The second reason is that the offline driver is very likely to charge you a higher price than what the e-hailing apps would charge. But this isn’t always the case. Some of them would ask you to book the ride on the app, agree to pay the maximum fare, and then disconnect from the app thus making it an offline trip. The advantage for them here is that they don’t get to pay the 25% commission to Bolt or Uber.

Offline trips are very common in the smaller cities of Enugu, Abeokuta, Benin etc. According to reports by passengers, most drivers in these cities negotiate their own prices before embarking on trips. This is because Bolt pays far more in the bigger cities of Lagos and Abuja, and far less in the smaller cities.

Some drivers in the smaller cities don’t go off the app though. What they do is negotiate a higher fee, for instance, N3,000 for an N800 trip, pay Bolt 25% of its N800 fare (N200), and keep N2,800 for themselves. If they had gone with Bolt’s fare, they would have earned a paltry N600.

With the 270% increase in fuel prices and Uber and Bolt’s refusal to initiate a commensurate increase in fares, one could expect a rise in offline trips in the bigger cities of Lagos and Abuja as drivers look to give themselves a chance to earn more and keep making a living off the business.

The idea would be pretty simple; Uber and Bolt are already popular ride-hailing apps. The drivers will use them for what they are; ride-hailing. But anything beyond the hailing would be entirely at the discretion of the driver. They would negotiate their own prices regardless of the price on the app, and depending on how strong the company’s measures are towards checkmating offline trips, decide to give the app companies their share of the initial fee or not.

Indeed this is already becoming very common since the hike in fuel prices. Mazi Ezeoke, for instance, narrated how he ended up paying N10,000 for a fare that was quoted as N5,100 on the app. This is almost double the price.

Indeed, Dr Femi Anthony in Lagos narrated a similar ordeal in which a driver demanded a fare of N6,500 for a trip quoted as N4,500 on the app.

I was going to Ilupeju from Opebi and Bolt quoted N4500. Ilupeju to Opebi without traffic is 10-12 minutes’ drive and dude was asking me for extra N2000. Who in God’s name is going to pay N6,500 from Opebi to Ilupeju?

But Bolt has now moved to discourage the offline venture, warning that it leaves both drivers and passengers unprotected in case of emergencies. The company also claimed that the welfare of its drivers remains at the core of its operations, and it will continue to carry out extensive reviews to ensure that it provides the best earnings for drivers on its platform while offering them bonuses completely independent of the current circumstances.

“We truly believe that happy drivers provide better quality service for passengers,” the company told Technext.

But going by interactions with drivers, not only on Bolt but indeed Uber and other hailing platforms, e-hailing drivers are anything but happy.