Article summary
- InDrive suggests that allowing drivers and riders to negotiate prices is the best solution to mitigate the impact of the recent fuel price hike on ride-hailing drivers.
- This contrasts with the drivers’ demand for a 200% price increase across platforms like Bolt, Uber, InDrive, and LagRide.
- InDrive emphasizes the importance of price negotiation to address the current challenges faced by drivers, stating that it can help alleviate the financial strain caused by rising fuel costs.
Ride-hailing platform, InDrive, has said that allowing drivers and riders to negotiate price is the only way to achieve a balance in the business with the recent hike in the price of fuel.
Reacting to ride-hailing drivers’ demand for a 200% increase in price across all platforms, including Bolt Uber, LagRide, among others, which the platforms have not acceded to, InDrive in a statement signed by its Public Relations Manager for Africa, Lineo Thakhisi, said the ride-hailing platform also empathize with the drivers. It, however, noted that price negotiation as opposed to price increment is the solution to the current challenge they are facing.
According to the company, mutual agreement between drivers and passengers in setting fares can help offset the financial strain caused by escalating fuel costs.
Critical solution
While noting that this approach has now become more critical with the high cost of fuel, InDrive in the statement said:
- “At inDrive, we deeply understand and empathize with the concerns drivers have raised in light of the ongoing surge in fuel prices. Our platform was created with the fundamental belief in the power of dialogue and fair negotiation between drivers and passengers to establish pricing that is fair for both parties. In these challenging times, this core principle is more critical than ever.
- “While drivers have full autonomy to set their fares, price negotiation serves as an informed guide that navigates the complexities of dynamic market conditions, ensuring that no one is left at a disadvantage. We firmly believe that the mutual agreement between drivers and passengers in setting fares can help offset the financial strain caused by escalating fuel costs.”
Ride-hailing drivers’ demands
Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), last week asked App-Based Transport companies including Uber, Bolt, Lagride, InDrive, and others to urgently review their prices upward by 200% and set minimum trip fares at N2,000.
While expressing concerns over the ripple effect of the new fuel price on the union’s members, National President of AUATWON, Mr. Adedamola Adeniran, said the new fuel price was causing hardship on its members’ earnings and patronages, which is why a 200% price increase is necessary across the platforms.
According to Adediran, app-based drivers lacked the capacity to increase the fare by themselves, unlike independent cab drivers, branded taxi drivers, bus drivers, and others. He also urged the companies not to deactivate any of the drivers as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.
The drivers, however, also made a case for the riders who will bear the brunt of the increment as they asked the ride-hailing companies to introduce a 5% subsidy to cushion the effect of the increase on the riders.
Aside from the increase in price, the drivers are also demanding a reduction in the commission being charged by Bolt, Uber, and others. While Bolt, for instance, had come up with a slightly upward price adjustment on its platform, the drivers said the increase is not commensurate with the over 200% increase in the price of fuel.
While citing the idea of price negotiation between drivers and riders, were drivers given the opportunity to negotiate the price of fuel? No.
A general increase in the price of fuel is enough reason/base for a general increase in fare. As it is close to impossible to negotiate fare with commercial bus and taxi drivers, ride hailing fares too should experience some increment and also allow for negotiations as well.
To rightly say, these ride hailing companies are only concerned about profiting at the expense of the drivers alone, because their commission is not tampered with, while the initial meagre profits of drivers has been drastically reduced.