Bolt or Taxify as it was formerly known and Uber has become the two most popular and biggest ride-hailing platforms amongst others in Nigeria today.
Platforms like Bolt and Taxify makes it easier for customers to reach get drivers easier and stress-free by building applications that enable seamless communications even from the comfort of your own home.
Bolt and Taxify both make their profits by connecting drivers to a Rider at metered pricing. Each of these platforms charges from 20% to 30% of the fees paid by the riders or customers to the drivers. Uber pays their drivers weekly, with the business week ending on Monday by 4:am, Tuesday are report days, showing your activities for the week, while Thursdays are paydays.
Some benefits of Bolt/Uber platforms to drivers are:
1. Both platforms both provide an opportunity to drivers or those with drivers license that wants to make additional money added to their monthly income or those that simply want another source of income combined to theirs since in Nigeria today having just one source of income is tantamount to financial suicide.
2. Drivers using Uber gets to keep 70% to 75% of the cash per trip while Uber platform takes 30% to 20%. As for Bolt, they keeps 15% to 20% while their drivers keep 75% to 80%.
3. Uber gives some very mouth-watering incentives to encourage their drivers, you get a tip of #40,000 after every 20 trips for every driver or partner you get to invite, isn’t that awesome?
4. Uber is not very particular about the insurance provider, you just need to have an insurance policy to cover you in the event of an accident.
5. Flexibility schedule, you get to work as much or as little as you would like, within your time frame, during any hours at all, both on Uber and Bolt.
6. Another thing not to overlook is your safety, most people have mostly fixated on the customers or riders safety that they ignore that of the driver, but in this case, Uber tries to screen riders by having a feedback system where both drivers and riders rate each other during or after the course of the trip.
There are cases online where riders make inappropriate on drivers and vice versa, so the risks themselves are not entirely mitigated, in this case, all drivers and riders should ensure to take precautions and Be safety-minded at all times.
1. The Bolt application is very easy to use, riders can request rides, track the car ride on a map, pay using their card or in cash and at the end of the ride rate the driver and give feedback on the experience.
2. Using Bolt is way cheaper than Uber.
3. The sum of the payment is calculated before the ride on Bolt, so you know what you are paying even before embarking on the ride, unlike Uber that is after the ride before you get to know what you are paying.
4. Gives cheaper opportunities for commuting without using public vehicles or a transport system.
5. Bolt is rapidly developing and diversifying, we now have Bolt food, Bolt scooter, e.t.c.
6. Bolt operates in more cities in Nigeria than Uber at the moment. as Uber only operates in Lagos, Abuja, and Gulu, therefore it is easy for customers to make use of Bolt in more places than Uber.
7. Uber charges a cancellation fee when a rider cancels a trip. Bolt only charges a cancellation fee after the rider cancels the ride a few minutes after the driver has accepted the ride.
8. Both Uber and Bolt have safety measures in place but in comparison, Uber has more measures of safety in place than the Bolt. Uber allows you to verify your ride with a pin to ensure you are getting into the car with the right person. They also provide thorough screening of driver, speed limit alerts. They also have a ride check features that if a driver stopped at a location for too long through the use of sensors and they offer customers help support in such scenarios.
As for Bolt, they verify their driver’s identity through their verification portal that partnered with YouVerify. They verify this by matching drivers documents against government databases. As a rider on the Bolt, you receive the driver’s photo, name, car make/model and license number that you can share with your relatives so they have an idea on who is driving you.
9. In the event of a lost item, Bolt allows you to compensate the drivers if you are willing when the item is returned. But Uber charge for returning of missing items.
- Ride with windows down, forgo Ac as much as possible to this effect.
- Take a picture of the car’s number plate and do share it with your relatives.
- Seat directly behind your driver.
- Always use a Google map on your phone so you don’t end up getting misled by the driver.
- Let your relatives know your destination and your current location.
How to become a driver on either Uber or bolt platform.
To become a driver on the Bolt platform and start making money, you would need to have a vehicle that is acceptable on the platform. Vehicles that have four doors like SUVs from 2003, minivans from 2004, hunchback. 2door sedans are not acceptable on the platform.
Aside from having an acceptable car, you should also have several years of driving experience and also have a valid driver’s license.
The first step to take to become a driver on the Bolt platform is to sign up, you can either download the application from Google the ay store or go on their website on partners.both.eu/driver-sign-up, if you have over one car and you want to register them as a partner, you go to fleets. Taxify.eu.
The second step is to attend a driver training session after you must have gotten an invitation email from them.
The third step is to get your vehicle accredited by bolt.myautogeniusinspection.com/.
The last step is activation, once your vehicle has been accredited, visit the Bolt onboarding center for profile activation and onboarding session.
Becoming a driver on Uber is as similar as that of the bolt, the minimum requirements are:
- Have a valid driver’s license
- Complete a safety screening.
- Minimum of age 21.
- Four-door vehicle
- Air conditioning.
- A working radio.
To get started, sign up online on https://www.uber.com/a/join-new upload your documents, get a vehicle and activate your account.
If you are a driver and you want to make an extra buck or you just want another source of income from these two platforms you can choose whichever works well for you, and as a rider, you can also go for whichever suits you after going through this comparison.
