Bolt seeks to improve drivers’ experience after 42-days of lockdown

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Bolt Uganda, the e-hailing company, is temporarily waiving commissions for drivers following the government’s recent partial lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The move seeks to help drivers have a better start of their business after the 42-day lockdown which significantly impacted their earnings.

In a statement dated Aug.03, Moses Mugerwa, the company’s operations manager said, “We are waiving off our commission for the Bolt Base drivers. We shall do this by giving them a 20% commission refund bonus on each trip they complete, the amount they earn as a bonus will be used to settle their commission for every trip they complete. To better their earnings, we previously launched 0% commission for bodas.”

Mugerwa added that they have additionally decided to extend the duration for not charging commission from Boda riders.

This means, during this time, “we are waiving off commission for both the Bolt Base drivers and boda riders. This is aimed at kick-starting drivers after the lockdown where they haven’t been working and boosting their economic welfare that we are aware was affected.”

The company is also offering discounts to riders in order to encourage travel in a safe and socially distanced manner. While Bolt believes it is still safer to stay home, these discounts to riders are intended to make those essential trips more affordable and thereby increase trip requests for drivers and increase their overall take home earnings.

Bolt Uganda always compensates and adds the discounted amounts to driver earnings. The discounts are sent to the driver’s registered mobile wallet.

Meanwhile, the company further cautions drivers not to collect more than the discounted trip fare from customers.

Should customers report that drivers have dishonored the discounted fare and collected the full fare instead, their account will be suspended.

On COVID 19 safety, Bolt has urged its partners to remain COVID 19 vigilant and be at the forefront in the fight against the spread of the virus.

“As our partner, it is your mandate to remain Covid-19 safe and see to it that the lives of your passengers are safe. Be sure to wear your mask at all times, have hand sanitizer with you and not carry more passengers beyond the accepted number stipulated by the government,” Mugerwa added.