Requesting ride with personal virtual transport platforms: who is in focus for Yango, Uber or Bolt fares?

Introduction

One of the things known to transform personal transportation in the world and also in Ghana is the introduction of virtual transportation terminals. A request in the comfort of your home provides you with a suitable vehicle with a fair idea of how much one’s trip is likely to cost.

All that one needs to do is to own a phone/computer with internet. Download the application of choice and register to benefit from the services. The good thing is that car owners can register as drivers when they have the necessary documents. Basically, the factors that affect a request to be honoured and priced are the availability of rides, the demand by riders, the distance to be covered, the cost of operation, and the period at which the request is being made by a rider.

What factors affect the pricing of rides requested on each of the personal transportation platforms for the same journey? Let’s take a look at the same request on Uber, Bolt and Yango which at the moment operates in Ghana. People are to bear in mind that the availability of a particular service is dependent on the density of the population and the need for personal transportation. Within Kumasi, you are more likely to get any of these services around the Tertiary institutions than other suburbs of the Ashanti Region.

In a trip of 29 minutes using the fastest route and considering usual traffic at 05:30 am on 24th July 2021, the estimated fare was Ghc 48.00 with Uber, Ghc 32.00 each with Bolt and Yango. Among the three, Bolt is known to offer discount rides at certain times during request. In this request, Bolt gave a 60% discount (Ghc 15.00) and that brought the estimated fair to be Ghc 17.00 making it the cheapest.

What makes the prices differ?

These platforms pull owners of vehicles together. These must be people who are ready to operate a transport business using their own resources. What the platform does is connecting riders to rides based on location. At the end of a trip, the rider pays the driver who in turn pays a commission on each ride to the operators of the virtual platform that looked for the riders. The commission one pays could range from 20% to 25% as has been gathered from some of the drivers. The cost of operating in a country is also a key factor that goes into pricing fares.

Apart from these, the distance one is covering which mostly could be affected by traffic in addition to the peak periods of demand could also affect the fare one is expected to pay for each ride requested.

From interactions with drivers who have registered on the most popular platforms simultaneously, Bolt appears to be the only one that frequently offers discounts to riders. In such situations, Bolt will have an unmatched lowest fare in the industry.

Table: An estimated fare to be paid by riders using Uber, Bolt, or Yango at 5:30 am

Who is in focus with fare determination?

In a discussion, someone clearly showed her bias on which of the platforms to use as far as pricing of rides was concerned. To her, “the discount ride is what even blows her mind, it is great”. Of course, the person is a rider, and who will not be happy to have a personal ride a cheaper fare?

In the same way, a personal experience with a driver when we were discussing the transportation industry, was his dislike for the discount rides given by Bolt to riders. To him, Bolt only has the interest to keep its customers and build a bigger pool than thinking of the drivers or the vehicle owners. When asked whether they do not pay drivers on discount rides, he retorted that, as far as he is concerned, no one gives anything to them. What makes it worse is that Bolt charge the commission on the full fare before giving the discount and that ends up making the drivers lose. His strategy is always to ask riders if they have a discount and whether they are ready to pay for the full cost or he usually declines the request and asks the passenger to make a fresh one.

It is clear that Bolt offers the cheapest fares with its discount offer and by far might remain the platform for the masses. But I am tempted to believe if care is not taken, it might not work efficiently.

Uber and Yango per my request and conversation with players in the personal transportation industry are not known to be offering discounts as frequently done by Bolt. But still has a wider difference in the fares. Both might be having an equal focus on drivers and riders but still greatly differ with the fares.

Are other factors considered for pricing?

The question of whether safety provided on each platform counts to the pricing of fares remains for another discussion. This is because, as much as good moral values are the hallmark of all the platforms, certain crimes have ever been reported by riders who use these platforms. However, these are the minority.

A friend recounts a personal experience with one driver on one of these platforms (name withheld). The ride that showed up was different from what was been provided on the platform but the details of the driver were accurate and there was no doubt of who the request went to. In another, the vehicle was the exact one shown in the request but a different driver. It appeared he was a spared driver. He did not understand where to park and not to park to pick riders. On that single trip, he was fined at the airport and the rider had to pay the fine to avoid the delay of his trip.

It appears none of the platforms could pride itself on being the safest since all are in one way or the other comparable. The time it takes for a ride to show up is very much dependent on the time and where a request is being made together with the concentration of the vehicles on the platform being used to request.

Conclusion

There is no ambiguity that the personal transportation industry has come to stay. To some, this has become a full-time job. With the good intention to satisfy customers, efforts should be made to ensure everyone complies with the operating guidelines. Riders and Drivers are to help in maintaining the business which has come to stay and help with transportation in the major cities.

Drivers are fond of calling riders to ask certain questions before they even show up and start a trip. I think that is unethical. In my view, the first conversation in most requests should be when a driver is at the pick-up point and has waited for some time and the rider is not showing up. To call and ask where a rider is going to decide whether to accept or refuse a request is unacceptable. This behviour is frequent among drivers on most of these platforms. And that must stop.

It is better to install as many of these applications to decide on which one offers the best ride in terms of cost and comfort. On few occasions, I check these fares to bargain with other commercial vehicles I find around me when I am in need. Surprisingly, anytime I did,, I was able to bargain about half the cost they would have charged if I had no guide.