Uber vs Bolt: A Guide review in 2024

With the aid and technology today, finding a ride has been made easier and faster. You don’t need to chase down taxis or wait hours for a car service, today all you need is your mobile phone and you can order a ride anywhere and it will be ready within minutes. In this article, I will be talking about Uber vs Bolt: a review in 2024.

Uber and bolts have been known to be the top two hailing companies in Nigeria with lots of customers and drivers. There are various hailing companies in Nigeria today such as Oga Taxi, Smartcabs, Jekalo, PamDrive, Ola Cabs, and InDriver but we are only going to focus on the top two mentioned above which are Uber and Bolt.

Both Uber and Bolt offer an average citizen an opportunity to be a driver. This has caused the availability of more drivers and cars, all you need is a suitable car that matches their standards. Before we get started let's give a brief history of both Uber and Bolt.

All about Uber

A brief history of Uber, Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett Camp who was a computer programmer. Uber was formerly known as Ubercab. The Uber services and mobile app were later launched publicly in san Francisco in 2011. Initially, the application only allowed users to hail a black luxury car and the price was 2 times that of a taxi. In 2011, the company changed its name from Ubercab to uber after complaints from San Francisco taxicab operators.

It was in 2012 the company introduced uberX, a cheaper option that allowed drivers to use non-luxury vehicles, including their personal vehicles. It was then the company became popular operating in over 35 cities around the world.

Uber first began its operation in Nigeria in Lagos in 2014. Then after two years expanded to other parts of the country including Abuja, Benin City, Ilorin, and others. Uber has been popular since then and has cut across several states in Nigeria.

All about Bolt

Bolt formerly known as Taxify was founded by Markus Villig, a 19-year-old high-school student, in 2013. Bolt is an Estonian mobility company that offers vehicles for hire, micro-mobility, carsharing, and food delivery services with its headquarters in Tallinn and is operating in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries in Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Latin America. The company has more than 100 million customers globally and more than 3 million partners use Bolt's platforms to offer rides and deliveries to customers.

Bolt is known to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. Bolt is based on the same principle as Uber and is the top competitor of Uber.

Bolt started its operation in Nigeria in 2016, and since then advanced its services to major cities such as Calabar, Owerri, Lagos, Umuahia, Ado-Ekiti, Akure, Jos, Makurdi, Asaba, Onitsha, Aba, Enugu, Ilorin, Abeokuta, and so on.

Currently in Nigeria, Bolt operates in more cities in Nigeria than Uber. Therefore, and customers drivers can make use of Bolt in more places than Uber.

Uber vs Bolt

Bolts and Uber have been the top two hailing companies for a long time, and Bolts has been Uber's strongest competitor almost in everything ranging from price to customer service, to safety and so on. I will be comparing Uber and bolts in all areas of service and will also be giving what users review on both.

Cities of operation in Nigeria

Uber

Lagos, Abuja, Akure, Gulu, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Umuahia, Uyo

and Warri.

Bolts

Aba, Abakaliki, Abeokuta, Abuja, Ado Ekiti, Akure, Asaba, Awka-ibom, Bauchi, Benin City, Calabar, Enugu, Ibadan, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Lafia, Lagos, Lokoja, Makurdi, Nnewi, Nsukka, Ondo, Onitsha, Osogbo, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Umuahia, Uyo, Warri, Yenagoa and Zaria.

conclusion: presently, Bolts operates in more places in Nigeria than Uber. Thus, it is easier for customers to get rides on Bolts easily than Uber.

Pricing

Uber

According to reviews and experience, Uber charges more than Bolt and they charge per traffic and hour of order.

Bolt 

Bolts charge a little less than Uber making it more affordable to customers.

Which pays drivers more?

Uber

Uber has been known to charge drivers 25% of every pay, which means the driver will be going home with 75% of the service fee paid for every ride.

Bolt

Bolt charges their driver 20% of the service fee, which means the driver is going home with 80% of the service fee. 

conclusion: According to the statistics above, it appears Bolts drivers get paid more than  Uber drivers.

Safety features

Uber

Uber has so many safety features that have been put in place for both the safety of the rider and the driver. some of the safety features include: 

• 24/7 Customer Support: Whether you have a quick question or an incident to report, you can get the help you need. you can access 24/7 support directly through the app, whenever you need it.

• Share My Trip: You can let the people you love know where you are with the share your trip feature from the app. Choose your Trusted Contacts in the app and set reminders to share your trip details with them at all time

• GPS Tracking: All Uber rides are tracked by GPS from start to finish, so you can follow your ride and see exactly where you’re going with the uber app.

• Driver Profile: As a rider, you can get to know your driver before you step into their car. You can see their rating, how many trips they've completed, how long they’ve been driving, compliments from previous riders, and more, same goes for the driver.

• Verify Your Pin: Riders can also verify their ride with a PIN. you can opt into this feature to help make sure you’re getting into the right car with the right driver.

• 2-way Rating: The two-way rating system maintains an enjoyable Uber experience and helps keep riders and drivers safe. A consistently low rating can lead to suspension or deactivation of the driver.

The above are just a few of the safety features put in place by Uber to ensure the safety of both the driver and the rider.

Bolts

• Share trip details: just like Uber, riders of Bolt can also share their trip details with their loved ones and family to keep track of their location.

• Emergency assist: You can quickly and discreetly alert an emergency response team with our in-app Emergency Assist button. This will also notify their Safety team, who will make an immediate welfare call.

• Rate your driver: you can also rate your driver's behaviour and that allows the bolt to block those who violate their Terms of Service.

• Women only: With Bolt, they are a special ride type that allows women to request rides only from female drivers.

• Identity verification: All drivers of bolts submit a real-time selfie as part of their identity verification process during registration, as well as on a regular basis.

There are other many safety features, Bolts have put in place to ensure the safety of both the rider and drivers.

conclusion: Based on reviews by both Uber and Bolt users, Uber has been known to have more safety features than Bolts. It is even harder to be an Uber driver than a Bolt driver because of the driver's qualifications and requirements put in place by Uber.

My final thoughts on Uber vs Bolt: A review in 2024

Uber and Bolt all provide maximum services and meet up to customer requirements, so looking for the best between them will be based on personal choice. as of right now, if you are looking for a cheaper ride you will have to go for Bolts, then if you are looking for a ride with more features and safety you will go for Uber. As a driver, if you are looking for the best hailing company that pays more, then it is Bolts.