Taxify To Bolt: What do Users Think of the Sudden Rebranding of Nigeria’s Second Most Popular Ride-Hailing Company?

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As it stands, Bolt has over 60% of the market share volume of the ride-hailing market. This could be owing to a number of reasons.
As it stands, Bolt has over 60% of the market share volume of the ride-hailing market. This could be owing to a number of reasons.

It’s been three weeks since Taxify rebranded as Bolt. But the company and, especially, its users, are still adapting to life under the new name.

The Estonian company announced the rebranding on March 7 as the number two ride hailing company in Nigeria aims to pursue a more integrated transport that includes not just ride hailing, but electric scooters.

But why the change from Taxify to Bolt? How’s that working out? And how did users react to the change?

Here’s what we found.

Unsurprisingly, majority of users found the name change odd. But then again, who wouldn’t? The change from Taxify, which sounded “taxi market friendly”, to Bolt definitely caught users unaware.

So the popular reaction from customers have been quite comical.

https://twitter.com/NkanyeziKubheka/status/1110493458857373696

https://twitter.com/0Kvys/status/1103765702761213957

https://twitter.com/Kaypoisson1/status/1103671262042296320

https://twitter.com/Kaypoisson1/status/1103669536811896832

https://twitter.com/Kaypoisson1/status/1103669536811896832

But the rebranding wasn’t all fun though. Many users who had negative experiences with Taxify raised valid questions. Over the last few years the company has operated in Nigeria, users have complained particularly of unsavory or bad practices by drivers under the platform. Users wanted to know if the name change would impact these issues and make them go away.

https://twitter.com/iamnatasharyder/status/1104458021101543424

Other users, some of them “paid influencers”, took out time to educate people on the rebranding.

https://twitter.com/TheLazywrita/status/1104374827346022404

https://twitter.com/MrOlayinkaa/status/1104371551342944259

https://twitter.com/Queenyetty1_/status/1104368427974750208

https://twitter.com/Queenyetty1_/status/1104368427974750208

Regardless of how users are Reacting to it, Taxify rebranding to Bolt is poised to make the company stronger. However, there’s no guarantee that the issues raised by users will be addressed solely on the strength of a name change. Going forward though, we’ll monitor the progress achieved and keep updating our readers with latest information.


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