Lagos residents can determine the cost of their trips with the introduction of inDriver, an international online ride-hailing service headquartered in New York and used by 26 million people across more than 200 cities.
inDriver users can independently set the price for their trip, while drivers can choose the most profitable and convenient orders, according to a statement by the company.
The statement said 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.
“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,” said Egor Fedorov, Chief Marketing Officer, inDriver.
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 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.
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.
In recent days 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% less than with other services. For example, for a ride from Victoria Island to Elegushi Royal Beach Lekki, users paid just NGN 1100, from Shoprite Circle Mall to Chevron Drive Lekki NGN 400. inDriver can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store and AppStore.
During the New Year holidays of 2012, the temperature dropped below -45C in the city of Yakutsk, Siberia, in Eastern Russia. As a result, local taxi drivers simultaneously doubled the cost of rides — leaving riders (literally) out in the cold. In response, the inhabitants of Yakutsk created an “Independent Drivers” group on Russia’s social network, where people posted ride requests, listed the price they were willing to pay, and drivers accepted their orders. In just six months, more than 60,000 people had joined the group. Not long after, the mobile app inDriver was created to replace the group, allowing passengers to independently set the most optimal terms for their rides. Today, the service is used by 26 million users in more than 200 cities in 25 countries.
