Passenger alert: How safe is that ride?

Dar es Salaam. They are known for sorting transport complications but a recent string of violence faced by women passengers is posing fresh security concerns in using the ride-hailing services in Tanzania.

Some of the victims shared their stories of abuse with The Citizen, mentioning Bolt drivers.

Although police said they would follow up the issues, the ride-hailing Bolt acknowledged to have learnt of several incidents from passengers.

Bolt said it was investigating an incident made public through social media where the victim posted a narration of her ordeal, an image of injuries, and a Bolt driver profile screen grab.

“The rider has been encouraged to report the incident to the police and share a case number with us, enabling Bolt to support that investigation in any way we can,” said Bot country manager Remmy Eseka.

“Bolt strongly condemns the gender-based violence scourge that threatens women every day. We are unwavering in our belief that every person has the right to move around without risk of harm, intimidation or coercion, or fear of death or injury. Similarly, we believe that every person has the right to work without risk of harm, intimidation or coercion, or fear of death or injury,” said Mr Eseka by email.

He also said that the driver in question was suspended from the platform pending the findings of the Bolt High Priority Team’s investigation in compliance with the police.

What happened?

One of the victims, a woman who requested not to be mentioned detailed to The Citizen how her journey from Masaki to Msewe ended on a bad note after she requested a ride from Bolt.

She had been using the applications for a while and to her thoughts, the ride was also to take her to her destination safely.

On arrival at Msewe, the price displayed on his phone was Sh11,000. She handed the money but the driver told her it was not enough. After noticing the change of the driver’s attitude, the victim hurriedly tried to open the door from the back seat.

“The driver timed me and started the car, driving two minutes further from the point I was supposed to alight from the car,” she said.

She felt helpless, seating at the back of the car with the driver racing it to an unknown location, one that was not her destination.

“After a while, he stopped the car, forced me out and slapped and kicked me numerous times causing me to fell down. He then left me with bruises in my forehead and knees. As I was trying to make sense of what had befallen me, I realised that my purse, which had about Sh40,000, had been emptied, and he had long left leaving me on the ground,” she said.

After she reached out to Bolt via email, she said, they explained to her that the Bolt driver was banned from using the app and compensated her for the assault by sending her ‘promo code’ and Sh20,000.

“My bruises are still healing, but the trauma of that moment has left me deeply worried about my safety with ride hailing apps because I feel they have failed me already,” she explained.

She said, all that she needed was for justice to be done as well as firms running ride-hailing applications to ensure they properly check on backgrounds of drivers before trusting them with passengers.

“The compensation did not heal the trauma I was put through,” she said.

Another victim who also asked not to be named shared a similar story. She requested bolt from Misana Hospital to Feza Boys secondary School. As the driver did not understand the location of her destination, he ended up taking her to Feza International School.

When she asked the driver to take her to her requested location, the driver told her to pay more.

“When I told him that I was not going to pay for a location he had mistakenly taken me to, he started racing the car to a lonely street. He aggressively took my phone and charged at me, started tearing my blouse as he uttered words of appraises to himself,” she narrated.

“He told me I cannot do anything and even if I report, he would still use his other multiple accounts on the very same application,” said the victim.

However, Bolt says the drivers are thoroughly screened before operating on the platform as they have to present a valid driving licence with relevant class and national ID, a certificate of good conduct from the Tanzanian Police Force, a commercial vehicle with comprehensive vehicle insurance and Latra documentations.

The third victim whose journey started from Tabata to Goba used a three-wheeler. On arrival at her destination, the bill came up as Sh7,500 on the screen of the driver’s phone.

“He started arguing that it was not enough and he asked me to pay twice the amount. When I denied to do that, he started verbally abusing me. We argued to the point of making some people living around the area to intervene,” she said.