Lagosians to determine fare, route for commuting as international online ride-hailing service -inDriver, debuts

Not only will Lagos residents be able to determine the cost of their trips when commuting, they will also be now able to dictate their preferred routes when commuting across the state.

These solutions, are thanks to inDriver, an international online ride-hailing service headquartered in New York and used by 26 million people across more than 200 cities, to include Lagos, Nigeria.

Promoters of inDriver, which works as an online application, downloadable from the app stores, assured that residents of Lagos who use the app, can independently set the price for their trip, while drivers can choose the most profitable and convenient orders.

A statement from its promoters made available to business a.m Thursday, explained that the app’s real time deals model, combats algorithms used by other ride-hailing companies, which rack up prices because of peak hours, traffic and request history.

“inDriver allows passengers to set their own fare for their chosen route. Nearby drivers who receive notice of ride requests have three choices – accept the fare offered, ignore the offer or bargain for a higher price,” the statement read.

Continuing, it stated that “Until today, taxi services in Nigeria did not leave any choice for local residents when it came to the cost of the trip. Users were only offered to agree to the price specified in the application or on the taxi counter. inDriver came to change this situation. We want customers and drivers to independently and directly determine the fair and favorable price of each trip. Already today, residents of Lagos, using inDriver, will be able to make sure that the cost of travel can be significantly lower than the usual prices,” Egor Fedorov, chief marketing officer, inDriver, is quoted to have said in the statement.

It adds that, Lagos is the first city in Nigeria where inDriver was launched. The service is already operating in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. inDriver has already connected more than 6,000 drivers in Lagos, and dozens of new drivers are being registered daily. At the initial stage after the start, inDriver will not charge drivers any commission.

“A unique feature of inDriver is that drivers are not automatically assigned to riders. Once the counteroffers are in, passengers select the most suitable driver in line with what categories are most important to them – fare, driver rating, estimated time of arrival or vehicle model.

inDriver also says it has the option to make the rides safer. Passengers can share their GPS location and ride details in real time from the app with trusted contacts.

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“Travelling with inDriver can be done throughout Lagos’s city borders. Currently, one can pay for the ride only in cash, which allows to further reduce the cost of the trip, as when paying by card, the bank charges an additional commission,” the statement indicated.

Having been in operation in recent days, the company says inDriver has been working in Lagos in test mode to collect first feedback.

“This week showed that prices became more attractive for passengers. Passengers using the app pay on average 20 percent less than with other services. For example, for a ride from Victoria Island to Elegushi Royal Beach Lekki, users paid just N1100, from Shoprite Circle Mall to Chevron Drive Lekki costs N400,” the company disclosed

To download the app for free, the company advised prospective consumers to search the Google Play Store and AppStore.