Afrigather Experience-hailing app Bolt has blocked an undisclosed variety of accounts for requesting pretend rides and canceling them after a driver accepted.
The corporate has additionally restricted intercountry journey requests to curb a pattern which has principally concerned Bolt customers in Nigeria and South Africa.
On Thursday, a number of accounts on the social platform X posted screenshots of the pattern the place a Bolt person in both Nigeria or South Africa would request a journey in one of many international locations after which cancel it after the driving force accepted.
“We perceive the influence this case has had on our driver-partners in Nigeria and South Africa. We’re dedicated to making sure a protected, dependable, and safe expertise for all members of our neighborhood,” mentioned Yahaya Mohammed, Bolt’s nation supervisor for Nigeria.
The pattern is believed to have began from South Africans who made pretend journey requests to prank Nigerian drivers and canceled the request when the driving force arrived on the location. Nigerians, in retaliation, pranked South African drivers. Each international locations have a historical past of on-line rivalry.
It’s unclear what the motivations of the pretend journey requests is past web trolling. However it raises query about intercountry journey requests and the way they are often misused by unhealthy actors. For ride-hailing drivers, the pattern is a nightmare.
“I drove from Cape City to Stellenbosch to select up a buyer solely to grasp it was a pretend request,” one Cape City-based driver instructed TechCabal. “That’s nearly 50km value of gasoline gone due to web jokes.”
“That is thoughtless to our plight. At a time that gasoline is scarce and in addition costly, no affordable particular person must be doing this,” mentioned one indignant driver in Lagos.
As Bolt doesn’t reimburse drivers for the gasoline spent on cancelled rides, some have resorted to refusing long-distance requests till the state of affairs is addressed by Bolt.
Editor’s word: This text has been up to date to incorporate extra context to the pattern and a quote from a ride-hailing driver in Lagos.
