8 Nov 2020
At Bolt, our mission is to connect you with affordable rides at the touch of a button. At the heart of this mission is to ensure that those rides are as safe as possible – before, during and after.
We achieve this by putting the right tools and processes in place, which begin with our driver registration process and continue through to customer support and insurance protection.
We go to great lengths to verify the identity of each driver that operates on our platform through our first of it’s kind verification portal, in partnership with YouVerify.
The verification process includes cross-matching all information and documents provided by drivers against various government databases. This includes checking the Bank Verification Number (BVN), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and driver’s license databases and doing a home visit to ensure that all information we have about a driver is accurate before they get activated to drive with Bolt.
When requesting a trip through the Bolt app, you receive the driver’s photo, name, the car make/model and license plate number. The best way to ensure that you’re getting into the right car is making sure your driver’s face and license plate match those shown in the app.
Riders are encouraged to start their trip only once all the information checks out.
With our Share your ETA feature, you get an additional layer of safety as your loved ones can see your trip’s progress in real-time on the map as well as the driver and car details in full. It’s also important to note that trip details are tracked and recorded for every Bolt ride.
Every trip with Bolt is insured with rider trip protection that insures you and your possessions from the moment your trip begins until it ends. All at no cost to you. You can read more about our on-trip cover which is underwritten by AIICO Insurance here.
When you’ve reached your destination, we use rider feedback to improve future journeys. You can rate drivers for their service. Your honest ratings help us know how the journey went, how satisfied you were with your ride or if you have any complaints. Drivers who repeatedly receive low ratings, risk losing access to the platform. We want to be sure that everyone in our community treats each other with respect.
Although we have the Bolt safety toolkit in place, we appreciate that some issues may still occur.
If you have a less than satisfactory experience with Bolt, we encourage you to share your feedback with our Customer Support team so that we can put things right. And for situations needing greater attention, these are escalated to our high-priority team who are on hand to help with any issues you may have.
As per our policy, high-priority cases are forwarded to the police who are able to investigate all incidents to their conclusion.
We have seen that the majority of safety incidents happen when a passenger gets into the wrong car.
Please ensure that you’re getting into the right car by making sure your driver’s face and license plate matches what has been verified and shown in the app.
We want to remind riders to double-check these two important details before starting any trip.
To further guarantee safety on your rides, over the coming months we are working to:
In summary, we’d like to be clear that we’ll never shy away from making the necessary sacrifices, financial or otherwise, in order to bring long-term safety benefits to our passengers and drivers. We will continue to operate with safety at the heart of all that we do.
