In a bid to improve ride-hailing industry safety, Bolt, the on-demand mobility platform in Africa, has permanently blocked over 6,000 drivers from its platform due to non-compliance and safety-related matters.
Bolt says this move is part of it’s ongoing commitment to providing safety for its ride-hailing and online ordering sectors. The purge, which affected both drivers and riders reported for misconduct and non-compliance, took over six months.
In a statement, Weyinmi Aghadiuno, the acting Head of Regulatory & Policy Africa, said: “At Bolt, maintaining the highest standards of safety and trust is paramount. We understand the trust our customers place in us, and we are taking proactive steps to ensure their well-being during every ride. We believe that one incident is too many, and we want to ensure that our platform consists of top-rated drivers, which will result in a better overall ride experience.”
Bolt is also introducing stricter compliance measures during the the driver screening process, where drivers undergo a background check before being able to drive on the Bolt app. These will make sure that no one rents or hires out their Bolt cars or accounts to unregistered drivers. Some drivers also change their cars for older or different one’s when their registered cars are faulty or unavailable causing confusion to riders.
There have been bad incidences of misconduct from both drivers and passengers in South Africa and across the continent, intensifying its efforts to enforce platform guidelines is the right thing for Bolt to do. Bolt says the purge is not yet over but continuous and any driver or rider found violating safety standards or non-compliant will face swift and decisive consequences, including permanent suspension from the platform.
Apart from blocking drivers due to non-compliance, Bolt has partnered with the Automobile Association (AA) to offer Emergency Assist; an emergency response service in its app that shares driver details and location with AA’s 24/7 contact centre, deploying security and emergency services immediately.
Bolt will also allow both drivers and passengers to share trip details and ETA with trusted contacts. The firm’s Trip Audio Recording feature allows drivers and riders to initiate audio recordings during trips for safety, which can be reported to Bolt’s Customer Support.
Bolt is also testing rider verification, requiring new customers to take a selfie and upload an ID, which Bolt verifies before allowing ride orders. Bolt also has trip monitoring and dedicated 24/7 support from an in-house, specially trained, high-priority safety team. The team investigates all incidents reported then prioritizes on resolving them promptly.