Bolt Becomes Nigeria’s Most Expansive Ride-Sharing Platform as it Extends its Services to Port Harcourt

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Ride-hailing company, Bolt, has taken its services one step further by expanding into Port Harcourt.

The Uber rival has been on an expansion spree since it came to Nigeria in November 2016 as Taxify. Bolt enjoyed an almost seamless entry into the Nigerian market mainly because Uber had started operations some months earlier. Nigerians were already getting used to how a ride-hailing service brought comfort to their transportation experience within the country.

Bolt launched in Nigeria’s megacity and Lagosians embraced this new sweetheart that meant another option besides Uber. It also helped that Bolt was a little cheaper in the price it charged for rides within Lagos.

Two years and a good foothold after, Taxify decided to expand beyond Lagos, extending its services to Ibadan.

Despite the recent entry of ORide into the Ibadan ride-hailing market, gradually but surely presenting itself to the citizens as a more affordable, easier and faster means to move and beat traffic, Bolt has held its own. Bolt is the first choice for group trips, classy dates and comfortable rides within the city.

At the same time it expanded into Ibadan, Bolt also took its service to Owerri, giving it an edge over Uber in those states. Since its launch in Lagos and expansion to Abuja, Uber has been hesitant to further penetrate the Nigerian market and only recently launched its services in Benin city.

Despite statements that Uber was on the verge of expanding into Port Harcourt, the ride-sharing platform appears to have encountered some roadblocks that have stopped it from advancing in that direction.

Driver and passenger
Drivers on-boarded on the platform will receive 85% of the fares

Taxify, however, has had no such scruples. After taking its services to Owerri and Ibadan, the ride-sharing company went on to expand to Abuja, Calabar and Uyo.

Today, the ride-sharing company officially launched its services in Port Harcourt. In a statement by Bolt, drivers on-boarded on the platform will receive 85% of the fares paid by passengers while passengers will enjoy 20% discount on all rides within the launch period.

To celebrate Bolt’s launch in Port Harcourt, Bolt will be offering a 20 percent discount on all fares for the launch period and passengers can enjoy a free first ride up to N2000 with the promo code BOLTPH when they apply the promo code. Popular trips in and around Port Harcourt such as Pleasure Park to the Mall will cost between NGN1,000 – NGN1150 while Peter Odili road, Transamadi to New GRA will cost between NGN1,200 – NGN1,300.

Bolt

Bolt is definitely not the only ride-sharing platform that has made its move on these states. Uru is also trying to get more foothold in Owerri and Port Harcourt. Alakowe Taxi, Mr Taxi and the likes have all popped up to bring their quota to the ride-hailing sector in Nigeria.

Considering the generic nature of the ride-sharing service, innovation will constantly be needed at a high level to set one ride-sharing platform apart from the others. Innovation, and who gets where first!


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