Leading ride-hailing company in Nigeria, Bolt says it deactivated more than 5,000 drivers from its platform in 2023. This was disclosed by the Regional Manager for North and West Africa, Lola Masha, during the launch of the Bolt Safety Awareness Campaign in Lagos. According to her, the mass blocking was not due to any specific infractions by the drivers but rather a general cleanup of its driver database.
“Similar to the way you will clean up your files, your laptops, and your customer base, we basically went through our database and decided to make sure that what we have active represents our current active driver partners. We do have a rating system so it is an ongoing process, it is not a one-time thing when we make a big effort to block out hundreds and thousands. It is an ongoing process,” Lola said.
According to the Lagos chapter chairman of the union, Comrade Jaiyesimi Azeez, the feature is one of the factors limiting drivers’ earnings in the face of rising fuel prices. He said the feature causes economic and psychological stress to the drivers because it does not avail them the flexibility they require to do their jobs and earn more many to stave off the hardship.
“The Driver Score Feature causes economic instability and psychological stress. The current system forces drivers to bear the brunt of fuel price increases while your commission remains intact. This is unsustainable and unjust. The removal of the Driver Score feature will promote flexibility and freedom,” Comrade Jaiyesimi said.
However, according to Bolt’s regional manager, the feature does not seem to be going away anytime soon. Explaining the driver score, Lola Masha said it is a fully transparent process, where the drivers know what their score is and why they have it.
She also pointed out that the drivers know the different guidelines that add up to their score and it does not always have to involve safety.
She said it could also include different metrics on how often they accept trips or around the way they behave to riders.
“If we see that this particular driver is getting reports from riders around being rude or whatever else it is, all of those different metrics add up to the overall driver score. So it is not simply that the driver committed an egregious incident or a crime. It is different indicators that then add up to an overall driver score. And based on your driver’s score, it determines what the consequence for your bad behaviour is,” she said.
Bolt admits losing drivers due to fuel price hike
The Estonia-headquartered e-mobility company also admitted that it has unwittingly lost a number of drivers in Nigeria who can no longer continue with the business due to fuel prices. This was revealed by Bolt Nigeria General Manager, Osi Oguah. According to him, the fuel price hike is one policy that has affected the entire economy, reducing disposable income and the ride hailing industry is no different.
“Coming to our industry, you have a situation where because of inflation people cannot buy cars as often as they would do. So there is that trimming that is going on and it is not something I can say I can speak to specifically because it is affecting all the operators in the industry. So to that point, yes, you will expect some reduction but, like I said, it is industry-wide, not just a Bolt thing,” Oguah said.
