Most loyal customer and longest trip: e-hailing app Bolt crunches 2021 data

The convenience of being “chauffeur driven” is loved by this South African: A Bolt passenger hailed 908 rides on the app during 2021, equating to nearly two-and-a-half rides per day on very day of the year.

Only one other person in Africa hailed more rides — a passenger in Nigeria who recorded 923 trips during the year, said Bolt.

The longest Bolt trip in 2021 was a ride from Johannesburg in Gauteng to Ermelo in Mpumalanga — a distance of 262km — and this was also the most costly trip in 2021 on the platform at R1,318.

The longest trip recorded on the platform across all the 45 countries in which it operates was a 513km trip completed in Uganda.

However, South Africans are more miserly than many others on the continent when it come to tips. The largest tip given to a driver in SA in 2021 was R184. The year’s biggest tipper was a passenger in Kenya who tipped the equivalent of R3,350.

Perhaps surprisingly, New Year’s Eve was not the most popular day for rides.

The platform saw a record-breaking 270,000 trips in Johannesburg on December 3. 

“Could that have been the most popular date for year-end celebrations for companies, or was that the day everyone started doing their festive season shopping?” Bolt asked.

Gareth Taylor, regional manager for Bolt in Southern Africa, said e-hailing is cost-effective as it allows people to be less dependent on owning vehicles, and provides access to on-demand mobility without the expenses and concerns that come with vehicle ownership.

The service also creates work opportunities.

“They’re a win-win-win for passengers, drivers and the environment, which benefits from fewer cars on the road,” he said.

TimesLIVE