Bolt, the leading on-demand mobility platform in Africa, recently turned ten globally and celebrated seven years of operating in South Africa. Since launching in Johannesburg in 2016, Bolt has, over the years, accomplished a number of milestones and has changed how people commute for the better by providing convenience and reliability through the use of technology. The ride-hailing giant is proud to announce that it has hit over 400 million trips across 2 billion kilometres in South Africa.
Key milestones
As a leader in the ride-hailing industry, in 2020, Bolt introduced the first-of-its-kind ride-hailing category that caters for Women by connecting females with women drivers on the Bolt platform. The category was launched to provide a safer way for women to travel in the various cities in South Africa following feedback expressed from female passengers for a women-Only category.
In April 2020, the ride-hailing company leveraged its footprint of the ride-hailing vertical and strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with restaurants to launch Bolt Food in Cape Town and later launch across Johannesburg in 2021, following positive traction with the value proposition in Cape Town. To date, Bolt has over 2,000 active restaurants on the platform, including launching our national partnership with KFC earlier this year.
Lastly, as a commitment to drive more participation and inclusion for women in technology, Bolt launched a six-month-long internship termed, Outternship to offer six selected female candidates an opportunity to kickstart their career in an exciting role that challenges them to think outside the box in the different departments such as Operations, Public Relations, Marketing, Public Policy, Bolt Business and Bolt Food.
Earning opportunities unlocked
Bolt currently has over 40 000 driver partners in more than 23 cities across South Africa and continues to look for additional opportunities for drivers to continue earning. Most recently, Bolt, along with the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, through its strategic partnerships with our fleet partner My Next Car, has unlocked a new ride category, Bolt Lite, serviced exclusively by Bajaj Qute vehicles which are compact and fuel-efficient for short trips. Ride-type categories extend to the Bolt Business services that cater to our business clientele, offering SMEs, large enterprises, and other corporations a sustainable solution to manage their travel needs.
Takura Malaba, Regional Manager, East and Southern Africa, said: “We started seven years ago with a mission to help people move around their cities in the different parts of South Africa. Since then, we’ve expanded from just one ride category to include Bolt Lite, Bolt Premium, and Bolt XL, as well as our Go Sedan and Go Hatch, ensuring that we meet every passenger’s needs. We have also diversified operations to include Food delivery services to meet the growing demand for convenient services in the Food delivery sector. Our numbers have grown, and we continue to witness tremendous growth and increased demand for quality services in the ride-hailing sector. It has been an exciting journey, and we could not have done this without our driver-partners, loyal passengers and restaurant partners.”
Focus on safety
Bolt’s goal has been to offer innovative, affordable and reliable services while ensuring that every passenger enjoys the convenience and safety of each trip. For this reason, the company pioneered safety initiatives in the industry, providing features such as the ‘Share my ETA’ feature that allows passengers and drivers to share their trip details with trusted individuals, an SOS button feature, which enables passengers and drivers to connect quickly and easily to 24/7 private armed and medical response teams. Lastly, two newly launched features that include trip audio recording which adds accountability and transparency to all trips as well as the driver selfie check feature, which enhances safety and also prevents driver impersonation and account sharing.
Other existing safety tools value-added offerings available to drivers and passengers include free trauma counseling following any traumatic incident while using the platform through its partner Oaksure and Bolt Trip Protection at no cost to cover emergency medical expenses, permanent disability, and death caused by an incident while on a Bolt trip. To further show its commitment to drivers, Bolt has partnered with TeleDoctor, that allows drivers to access six free consultations annually. This partnership allows drivers to connect with healthcare practitioners using a telehealth platform rather than in person at a doctor’s office.
