Hitching a ride does not always have to mean getting a bus or cab to one’s location. Sometimes, it can mean getting a suitable means of transportation to one’s destination, even if it means going by air or on water. A new transport technology platform – Bossbus – is looking to cover the gap by providing services that covers all forms of transportation on land, sea and air.
Founder and Chief Executive of Bossbus, Oluwatobi Johnson Fakayode, was a guest on the Nairametrics Business Half Hour where he talked about how the firm seeks to cater the underserved areas of transportation in Nigeria.
Bossbus aggregates cars, buses, boats, air jets etc on its platform making it possible for people in need of these services to access them through the app. The company, launched in 2019 already has operations across major Nigerian cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Warri and others.
The charter service is a highly customised system where a user gets to select the kind of car or vehicle he wants, the length of time or days, location and still pick an option that falls within his budget range.
Who is the target?
According to Johnson, Bossbus can be customized to meet users needs and so has a wide target audience range.
“We cater to your service, if you want a wholesale ride-hailing service perhaps because you have a lot to do and want a car and driver to be at your convenience for the entire time. You have a list of vehicles to choose what you want, the time and have it tailored to your needs.
“We also cater to business executives, travellers, tourists, people who want to visit another state but do not want to drive the distance. There are also high net worth individuals, SMEs and organizations that need these services on wholesale. With Boss Bus, you can order exactly what you want,” Fakayode explained.
Bossbus has evolved through different stages from a bike hailing platform, to bus hailing, intra-state and inter-state transportation. It started from an attempt to raise funds for a Bike-hailing business that was going through some rough patches. From there, the business evolved to cover bus and car-hailing.
Security and quality check
Bossbus platform is open to individuals and companies to register as vendors and participants. The business conducts a KYC process on all of the participants to enhance security.
“We need to be sure of the customer coming on, just as we need to be sure of the driver too. Security is not something we joke with,” he explained.
There are also check processes where the quality assurance officers check to confirm the quality of any car, bus, boat, yacht, or airjet listed on the platform.
Bossbus also adopted a two-way rating system where the drivers rate passengers, just as the passengers rate the drivers. This, according to Johnson, is a way to ensure that all parties are playing within the rules.
Funding and expansion
Bossbus has been run majorly from private capital and friendly investor’s funds. However, the firm has recently started opening up to bring in investors. From the Nigerian cities currently being covered, Bossbus hopes to expand in the coming years and have a presence in every Nigerian city.
