“One Chance” has become a well-known slang in Nigeria referring to unsafe Taxi services. Usually, these taxis are the ones people board from undesignated bus stops or parks. So, to ensure that one is taking a safe taxi, friends and family for instance would always advice, “no enter one chance o. Always board your Taxi from designated parks.”
Twelve years ago, some executive taxi sharing companies emerged, giving people a breathe of relief for more secure taxi services. The world’s largest ridesharing company, Uber Technologies, was founded in 2009 and quickly grew to become the world’s most valuable startup. Bolt previously Taxify, was launched in Nigeria in 2017 and operates in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Owerri, and Benin. Companies and individuals have used these taxi services, recommending them as the safest.
Augustine Bala, told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that one of the things he enjoys most about using Bolt is the fact that the App allows one to share your journey once your booked journey has started. Another security feature with these executive hired Taxis that Bala mentioned was the fact that “you get sent the type, color and number plate of vehicle picking you as well as the picture of the driver.” This, he said, helps one to check and be sure of the taxi one is taking and relax about security.
However, regardless of these security features, there have been recent reports by some passengers of these services about insecurity even with these taxi that hitherto were thought to be secure, and one could relax while travelling in one of Bolts or Uber taxis.
In Abuja one day, Tofi Sese Zoe said she got into a car she requested in Apo area after a business meeting. And as they got to the lonely road after Ministry of Defence beside Bolingo Hotel, the driver became restless, looking for something under the seat. Tofi said she engaged the driver, asking him to speed up the car. She said she asked the driver what he was looking for, and the driver didn’t answer her. At this point, Tofi said her self-defense instincts set in and were fully activated, so she jumped out of the car.
Tofi was lucky that she jumped out at a point close to a police check, so the driver was accosted and his car searched and a knife was found in his car. But the driver narrated how passengers attack Bolt drivers, how just the week before, a Bolt driver was killed. A small crowd that had gathered while this exchange with the police happened, wanted to lynch the driver, but the police intervened and saved the day.
Pearl and her husband traveled from Lagos to Abuja for a wedding in February 2021 and were not really conversant with the area they were going on arrival. She told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that, when the cab guy noticed that, he started acting funny, making turns he wasn’t supposed to make or take. Unknown to the driver, Pearl’s former memory of Abuja was still residue in her mind, as she wasn’t completely dumb of which route she was supposed to follow.
What he didn’t know was, I have been to Abuja several times but since it’s been long I went there, I was having a hard time figuring out some roads until I opened my map. We were wearing gold jewelry and his kept staring at us through his mirror. Peal said, “I confronted him about taking wrong turns because, my friend had already briefed me how she was robbed and thrown out of the taxi and my mind just picked.”
The driver ended the trip for this couple abruptly. However, Pearl and her husband said they reported the driver on the Bolt App, and Bolt promised to get back to them, which they did not till now. “I don’t use Bolt anymore,” said Pearl after this experience. She uses an alternative service, which she says she feels safer with because she knows their office.
Khadija Sani, a doctoral student in Abuja, also reported of an incidence with a taxi she ordered one day. At about 9pm on the fateful day, Khadija had ordered a Bolt ride from Wuse market area to Area 3. The first thing she noticed was that the Honda was rather flashy for this kind of taxi service.
She said she got an alert shiver when the driver opened the booth for her to drop her bag. The booth was already filled up, to her surprise. Khadija said she could not make out what was in it, “but my small box could barely enter. When I turned around to open the passenger door, the driver protested and asked me to sit in front with him.” Khadija said she changed her mind when the driver couldn’t put on his inner light for her to be sure of the inner car.
She said she requested another cab from Bolt. When she shared her experience with the driver, she was encouraged to check the driver’s profile on the platform. To her utter surprise there were no details for the driver on the Bolt App.
A phone call to Bolt by 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE came back without any clarification on who would answer questions on security for both passengers and drivers who use the taxi service.
