A section of SafeBoda Riders in Kampala have chosen to snub transporting passengers via the SafeBoda Application during day time because of what they called “the unpopular discounted cashless payment mode,”
In a bid to encourage more clients to pay using their Application, the management of SafeBoda introduced a discount for whoever pays using it and here you deposit cash on your SafeBoda wallet and then pay directly to SafeBoda instead of paying Cash to the rider.
“This would be Ok but the discount is really affecting us, we are not working the motive of joining the App is losing its meaning,” said a rider who preferred to remain anonymous due to security reasons,
“The App is benefiting the customers not we the riders,” he added.
After getting hearing one story from a rider, who was transporting me from Kampala City to Kireka, DaParrot Team sampled over 50 riders, engaged them, and asked them about the same issue.
Findings of our mini-survey indicate that majority of the old riders (who were there before the covid-19 breakout) have left the company and left for the new entrants.
“I ride using an App from 7 am to 9 am, go offline then resume at around 7 pm,” said another rider, “Between 9:00 am and 5:00pm we are working for you people, the charges go completely down and if you add these unnecessary discount you find that it doesn’t add up,” he said
According to the Riders, if someone orders for a ride and the SafeBoda Application reflect Shs5000, SafeBoda will charge 15% which was agreed upon and this is ok,
“But for the Cashless, the Safe Boda will give a customer the discount and charge them Between Shs4000 and Shs4500 and on to of that deduct 15% from it meaning I will get less and less,” a rider said “They deceive us with points that when you raise 10 points they give you Shs2500 but after counting it all, you find that you are cheated.
Some according to our Investigations have resolved to put the App on for customer attraction as narrated by customers”@Uber, Bolt and @SafeBoda Riders after ordering for a Ride they come and start negotiating with you,” a one Gabriel Buule posted on his Twitter recently,
SafeBoda Riders who spoke to DaParrot admitted doing so because they need to balance their sheets,
SafeBoda, these sad is also charging them exorbitantly in the loans for the Motorcycles they give them,
SafeBoda Management Speaks Out
In an exclusive Phone interview with DaParrot, Douglas Kikinyogo, the Content Creator, Marketing, and Communication Executive at SafeBoda said that the cashless payment mode is benefiting riders equally and therefore there is no cause for alarm
Kikonyogo said that first of all there is no difference between cash and cashless pay on the side of the rider.
He added that there is no difference between cash and cashless on the driver’s side According to Kikonyogo when a driver takes a cashless trip, SafeBoda has put in place several incentives for them, more than when they receive cash, “We have what we call a bonus tire where these people earn points which are translated into money.
When a driver takes a cash trip we give them 8 points well as when he takes a cashless trip they earn 20 points and to get a bonus you need to get at least 60 points. A cashless driver only earns points on three trips and at least 8 trips for cash,” Douglas said that they have put in place very many features on the driver’s App where they are able to use their cashless as they can like buying electricity, paying for water bills, paying for TV, buying Airtime Data, and even earning some cashback.
On a rider negotiating with clients upon reaching them, Daglous said that they have improved their Application and now a driver can know whether the customer is for cash or Cashless during ordering.
“It’s true that not everyone is aware of what we are doing and solve that we have put in place as much communication portal as possible and even as we talk now we have an ongoing drivers camp, where we are calling than to educate them about numerous issues,” he said
Loan Allegations are Not True
Commenting about the loan allegations, stated by riders, Kikonyogo said that they will not directly offer these loans as alleged.
“We, however, work with partners that provide these and stand as sureties for our SafeBoda drivers. These partners include Watu Credit, which has an office available within our Academy premises,” he said adding,
“On top of this, we only charge a driver Shs2,000 daily as a loan payment. It’s fair enough, if you may ask me,”
These bash riders who said that they pay between Shs10,000 and Shs14500 daily for loan servicing.
