Oride Launches in Ibadan with Discount on Rides Through July, Here is What People on the Street Think…

Opera founded startup Opay has launched its bike hailing service Oride in Ibadan just months after it made its Lagos debut. With a massive July discount that lets users pay 50 Naira for every ride that costs less than a thousand Naira, Oride is determined to become an integral part of transportation in Ibadan.

TechNext carried out a detailed survey on the use of Oride in Ibadan, getting reactions and responses from people that have used the ride-hailing platform. We also spoke to a cross-section of bike riders who have registered with Oride and those who have not.

Bike riders in Ibadan are a dime a dozen, yet commuters have very easily taken to using the Oride app. When we asked to know why, the responses we got showed that people make use of the service for reasons ranging from comfort and convenience to the security of knowing that your Orider has been trained to be polite and give you an enjoyable ride.

A student of the University of Ibadan, Yusuf Kareem, said the ease of ordering a ride and customer service were huge pluses for him.

I like the comfort of ordering for a ride to pick me up from where I am and get me where I am going without having to go to the roadside. From my subsequent interactions with one Orider who refused to get into an argument, I learnt that the riders were trained never to argue with customers but to be polite at all times.

Yusuf Kareem, Student of University of Ibadan

Kareem is not alone. Ibadan resident Tochi Joshua says he is sold as well. For him, the convenience of accessing the service trumps any unpleasant experience he has had so far with the platform.

Even though I had the unpleasant experience of an Orider cancelling my ride after i had ordered, the convenience of being able to order for a bike ride that can maneuver its way in Ibadan traffic without having to stop whatever i am doing to get to the roadside is bliss.

Tochi Joshua, Inhabitant of Ibadan

However, the concerns are all too real for some commuters. Kareem notes that there are instances where he has had to wait for long periods of time before finding an Orider close to him via the app.

On wednesday 10th of July, I had to wait for about 30 minutes before I could get a ride from Bodija Ojurin to Mokola. I only waited that long because I wanted to show a friend of mine that the service actually was available. The wait was not a pleasant experience.

Yusuf Kareem

Other challenges include incidents where riders are unfamiliar with the places where commuters order from. Google maps does not really solve the problem for the riders because it is not safe or exactly comfortable to check the map en route to a user.

Despite the lag and other attendant challenges, an increasing number of inhabitants are using the service in Ibadan; people going to work who need to beat traffic, people who want to stay out late and may not get the regular cabs and buses to transport them afterward.

In keeping with demand too, a significant number of local bike riders have registered with the platform since its launch. But TechNext also spoke with bike riders who had not registered with Oride and got their opinion about the service. And the general opinion is this: most transporters are strongly considering signing up with the platform to boost their work.

Oride offers bikemen different packages which include either being an Orider with their own bikes or getting a bike from Oride and making payments daily.

We have various packages/product we operate under the ORide platform, you can choose to join the ORide direct platform where we train you and give you a bike to operate or you can join us with any bike you have to make an extra income for yourself.

Oride

All these developments with Oride have come just a month ahead of the launch of Bolt in Ibadan. Time will tell if the city’s premiere bike ride-sharing app will get and hold its share of the market.