Why ride hail transport vital to cater for fast growing urban population

As urban population continues to grow, ride-hailing is becoming a primary mode of transportation, with the potential to eliminate the need for personal vehicle ownership. Recently our BUSINESS STANDARD Reporter held an interview with Bolt Business Country Manager Mr MILU KIPIMO on various issues regarding ride hailing transportation as excerpts below:

Question: Briefly explain how Bolt’s business service works?

Answer: Bolt Business is a solution that allows enterprises to manage everything related to their company’s employees’ ground transportation. Employees can book rides on the company’s account and keep track of the routes and expenses of the business travel, all in one place. They can connect their Bolt app accounts to the business account, and when they need to take a business ride, they switch their payment method to the business account.

Bolt rides are available in more than 40 countries – therefore, if a team needs to travel, they can use the same service abroad. This provides convenience in terms of expensing costs, and the app is still in one’s home language.

Q. What motivated you to introduce this service?

A. To help enterprises manage their transportation spending, have visibility of their employees’ business movements, and simplify the transport expenses process.

Bolt Business services are more personal, convenient, and faster than other competing ride-hailing platforms. Our services offer friendly & affordable prices, 24 hours dedicated Account Managers and Customer Support, and a vast market share in the transport space with presence in four cities in the country, namely Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Dodoma and Arusha.

We are also a smart and agile tech company, so we have great technical solutions for services, like the Business Portal.

Q. What are the benefits for clients using this service?

Cut travel costs and save money: Make it easier for the company’s work travel to come in on budget by setting spending limits and controls. Also, with competitive rides, money can be saved no matter where the business takes them.

Time-saving: Employees don’t have to manually fill out expense reports as all ride receipts are automated and tracked within a single portal with rides reports and invoices. Employers have a clear view of all business trip activities, expenses and reports.

Convenience: Ride Booker allows someone to book rides for others, order several rides at once, and schedule them in advance. The person whom the ride is scheduled for doesn’t even need to have a Bolt app, the ride details can be seamlessly shared via SMS.
Massive global coverage: Our three million Bolt drivers network means your team will always have a car and driver in multiple cities and countries. In Tanzania, Bolt is available in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha and Dodoma, with a plan to keep expanding in other regions.

Complete control and visibility: Employers can monitor and control employees in one single portal by setting policies such as which days and times employees can take the business rides, how many rides they can take, and the amount they can spend within a day, week, month or year.

Q. Which mode of payment is being in this service?
The Primary mode of payment is credit/debit card and postpaid payment. This is done through direct bank transfer to one of the most popular banks in the country which is accessible to almost every part of the country, thereby, providing ease of access to all clients. One can also make payment via a bank agent (wakala) if a client cannot get to the central bank branch, as well as through direct money transfer via mobile money [Mobile money transfer to the bank]

Q. How capable is Bolt being prepared to ensure the sustainability of services?
Bolt’s mission is to focus on building better cities for people. As such, the company is working towards achieving this by offering affordable, convenient, safe and sustainable mobility alternatives to personal cars. This will improve quality of life by reducing traffic, minimising accidents, relieving public spaces, decreasing emissions and noise pollution, and making transportation more accessible. With this in mind, Bolt ensures the availability of its resources wherever they are present, training partners and improving the quality of the service.