Public trust in e-hailing platforms Uber and Bolt is rapidly falling, thanks to poor vehicle quality and customer service.
According to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenage, who spoke to MyBroadband about the platforms, Uber and Bolt need to prioritise these issues if they hope to regain the favour of the South African public.
While initially these platforms were popular among South Africans, due to filling a niche in the public transport market for middle-class and affluent users, recent trends have put a damper on these positive sentiments.
This includes criticisms of Uber and Bolt for having poor customer support, shoddy vehicles, billing issues, and a lack of thorough driver vetting.
Duvenage’s thoughts on this matter are significant, given his track record in the transport sector and experience dealing with user-related issues, such as leading the charge against e-tolls.
He earned this experience across various positions, including working as a dispatcher for Avis’s car rentals at Durban Airport, leading the Car Rental and Leasing Industry Association, and eventually returning to Avis as its CEO.
Duvenage noted that he’s observed a growing desperation among e-hailing drivers to complete more and more trips to keep their heads above water with the share of the profit they receive for each.
However, this has led to less focus on car maintenance and customer satisfaction.
“This has resulted in a less customer-centric experience, vehicles that are tired and a general reduction in attention to detail and all-around professional experience,” Duvenage said.
“Apart from the occasional outlier, I certainly don’t get the impression that drivers are trying to exceed one’s service level expectations.”
Duvenage explained that this trend could be traced to one of two reasons.
Firstly, operational business management doesn’t give enough focus to vehicle maintenance and service level feedback, or secondly, that platforms have become too greedy and aren’t supporting their drivers properly.
“It’s a high-volume turnover environment where sometimes one gets the impression the franchisor is trying to squeeze more for themselves than allow a little more to flow to the operators for improved service delivery,” Duvenage said.
Multi-app drawbacks and industry competition
Along with concerns over service quality, Duvenage noted that drivers who make use of the practice of multi-apping to make more daily trips are detrimental to customer experiences.
Multi-apping involves drivers using multiple e-hailing platforms to capitalise on high-demand periods.
“One gets the impression that drivers are operating for both Uber and Bolt, thus circumventing the rules that limit the number of hours of operation,” he said.
“It leads to delayed pick-ups and cancelled collections, which is a more frequent occurrence lately than it was in the earlier days, but that’s just my personal experience.”
Along with this, the discontent around Uber and Bolt has led to the emergence of Wanatu, an alternative e-hailing platform in Pretoria.
Wanatu charges higher fees than Uber and Bolt, but its drivers have professional driving permits and are trained in technical and customer service support – they’re also fully employed by the company and earn a basic salary.
All Wanatu cars are fitted with front and interior dashcams, panic buttons, and hand radios for communicating with Wanatu’s control room.
Wanatu also owns all its vehicles, with drivers potentially sharing the same vehicle between shifts.
This helps promote accountability and ensures vehicle cleanliness is maintained.
The combination of these factors has made Wanatu a preferred choice for many, even with its higher prices.
Therefore, if Uber and Bolt wish to remain competitive, they must address their current issues.
Loading ...
