Bolt, the leading on-demand mobility platform in Africa, recently turned 10 globally and celebrated seven years of operating in South Africa.
Since launching in Johannesburg in 2016, Bolt has hit over 400-million trips across 2-billion kilometres in South Africa.
Bolt introduced the first-of-its-kind ride-hailing category that caters for Women by connecting females with women drivers on the Bolt platform. The category was launched to provide a safer way for women to travel in the various cities in South Africa following feedback expressed from female passengers for a women-Only category.
In April 2020, the ride-hailing company leveraged its footprint of the ride-hailing vertical and strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with restaurants to launch Bolt Food in Cape Town and later launch across Johannesburg in 2021, following positive traction with the value proposition in Cape Town. To date, Bolt has over 2 000 active restaurants on the platform, including a national partnership with KFC.
Bolt also launched a six-month-long internship termed, Outternship to offer six selected female candidates an opportunity to kickstart their career in an exciting role that challenges them to think outside the box in the different departments such as operations, public relations, marketing, public policy, Bolt Business and Bolt Food.
Bolt currently has over 40 000 driver partners in more than 23 cities across South Africa and continues to look for additional opportunities for drivers to continue earning. Most recently, Bolt, along with the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, through its strategic partnerships with our fleet partner My Next Car, has unlocked a new ride category, Bolt Lite, serviced exclusively by Bajaj Qute vehicles which are compact and fuel-efficient for short trips.
Ride-type categories extend to the Bolt Business services that cater to our business clientele, offering SMEs, large enterprises, and other corporations a sustainable solution to manage their travel needs.
Takura Malaba, regional manager: East and Southern Africa at Bolt, says: “We started seven years ago with a mission to help people move around their cities in the different parts of South Africa. Since then, we’ve expanded from just one ride category to include Bolt Lite, Bolt Premium, and Bolt XL, as well as our Go Sedan and Go Hatch, ensuring that we meet every passenger’s needs. We have also diversified operations to include Food delivery services to meet the growing demand for convenient services in the Food delivery sector.
“Our numbers have grown, and we continue to witness tremendous growth and increased demand for quality services in the ride-hailing sector. It has been an exciting journey, and we could not have done this without our driver-partners, loyal passengers and restaurant partners.”