Bolt, Uber, inDrive: Ranking Nigeria’s e-hailing platforms for availability, pricing and safety in 2025

2025 was a big year for e-hailing in Nigeria, as the industry witnessed notable growth. The Ride Hailing Safety Perception Report by Bolt indicated that 47 per cent of e-hailing passengers said they use the services multiple times a week. This indicates how ride-hailing has become a mainstay for many.

Notably, Bolt, Uber and inDrive established themselves as market leaders. Market shares were won and lost using unique leverage and offerings. And, the industry had its several ups and downs owing to several factors. Chief among these is unstable fuel prices and a lack of commensurate increase in fares.

This forced the drivers’ union to protest several times.

2025 also witnessed a price war among the e-hailing companies occasioned by inDrive’s bidding system. Earlier in the year, the bidding system sent prices crashing on the app, leaving other platforms struggling to keep up and adjusting their own fares as they started losing market share to inDrive.

Bolt even introduced a modified bidding system of its own in its bid to survive inDrive’s price onslaught.

But as the year winds to an end, all the dust appears to have settled, and by way of taking stock, we decided to rank the performance of the e-hailing companies in 2025.

The criteria used to assess the companies are availability, pricing (vis-à-vis quality of service), and safety.

Availability

There are few things more painful than trying to book a ride only to find the app unable to connect you with a driver due to their unavailability. This is especially true if the trip was an emergency, which many e-hailing trips often are.

When it comes to availability, no app has it clocked like inDrive.

Offering the cheapest rides due to its bidding system, passengers flock to the app. And, drivers naturally navigate towards demand. Because the app shows requests to all drivers within the vicinity of the request, it is typical for up to 20 drivers to view one request. Hence, riders get multiple bids.

However, one has to keep their fingers crossed about the quality of the car they would get, especially if the fare agreed is exceptionally low. This is not to say there aren’t excellent cars on the platform, as there are.

However, some of the least desired vehicles I have seen come through are on the platform.

inDrive ride request

As for Bolt, two features make availability such an ominous affair. The first is that your ride is not shown to every driver around you at once. Thus, it passes from driver to driver until one eventually accepts.

Each driver has the right of refusal before it passes to the next.

The second problem is that the app does not show the drivers your destination. Thus, picking your request is not a guarantee that a driver will fulfil it.

This is where you find many Bolt drivers calling to ask, “Where are you going?” If the destination doesn’t suit them, they would cancel. I asked a driver if he did not see the destination, and he responded that they only saw the area code.

As for Uber, rides are very scarce on the app. Consequently, riders have to wait for up to 20 minutes to get one. And when you do, that one may be too far away to make it.

Overall, for sheer availability, inDrive edges Bolt by a fraction.

Pricing (vis-à-vis quality of service)

One of the major talking points of 2025 was fares.

While drivers believed that inDrive and Bolt’s price wars crashed fares, riders thought the crashed fares were what they should be. Consequently, several protests and agitations centred around fares and earnings by drivers.

So which app offered the best prices in relation to the quality of its service?

inDrive generally offers the cheapest fares. This used to be a flex until drivers caught up and started rejecting bids that weren’t above the standard fares. Even then, these fares are lower than those of other apps.

The problem, however, is that you have to wait with bated breath to see what kind of vehicle comes along. And then hope the driver doesn’t ask you to add more money to the agreed fare on the app.

While this trend also obtains on most apps, it is prevalent on the inDrive app.

Weirdly, inDrive cars mostly have faulty air conditioners, as they are quick to tell you. Yet, those with working air conditioners want to be told before they reluctantly put them on. Thus, the lower the fare on inDrive, the less comfortable you can expect your ride to be.

Indeed, some drivers on the app told this reporter that their services are a necessity, not a luxury, a claim the company quickly debunked.

Bolt offers higher fares than inDrive.

It has a vehicle inspection system, which means its vehicles are typically of a better standard. While there are a few exceptions, Bolt drivers will hardly ask for offline fares, their vehicles likely have working air conditioners, and they need not be reminded to use them.

Uber used to be the epitome of quality delivery in e-hailing, but the company appears to be falling behind in the wake of the aggressive competition. It also charges the highest fare, which used to be in line with offering the highest service.

But nowadays, its service appears to have fallen. Indeed, some e-hailing users believe it to be the worst.

Overall, Bolt edges the rest in the price/quality delivery metric.

Safety

Safety is by far the most important factor in e-hailing.

According to the earlier quoted report, 96% of users opt for ride-hailing when public transport feels unsafe, particularly during late-night travel, in unfamiliar areas, or after drinking alcohol. 94% have booked rides for family members or friends to ensure their safe return home.

2025 is not a year that inDrive would be proud of its safety record.

This is because most of the rides with safety complaints that made the news were reportedly booked on the app. From Aderemi, a female passenger who was allegedly assaulted by her driver, Samson, to Pascaline, another female driver stabbed and robbed by her driver, down to a driver found to have locked up a child in his boot, the instances abound.

In fairness to the company, it responded to all cases with prompt effectiveness, suspending drivers found wanting and trying to make amends where necessary. However, the frequency of the occurrences suggests a systemic problem that requires a systemic approach.

Speaking of systemic approaches, perhaps no other e-hailing company comes close to Bolt in that regard.

First, there was a deliberate approach to host timely safety summits with drivers, regulators and the media. At the summit, new safety measures are unveiled and discussed in hopes of driving adoption. The company also has a driver score system, which keeps bad actors in check.

A particularly impressive safety feature with Bolt is its drive for mandatory passenger verification.

While the company had initially launched a voluntary verification, the only app to do so. It acknowledged that this was not enough. It is in talks with regulators to make passenger verification an industry-wide requirement, as introducing it alone would have negative consequences for the company.

While Uber used to champion safety, the company seem to have rested on its laurels in that regard.

Nonetheless, the standards it has always imposed on itself and strived to maintain have always held up. As such, there aren’t many safety issues associated with the app. Whether this is truly due to its standards or its dwindling fortunes is another point for discussion.

Overall: What e-hailing apps (Uber, Bolt, inDrive) could improve on

Overall, Bolt appears to have its house in order, at least more than the other apps. While its pricing, service quality and safety measures are great, it needs to work on availability.

Specifically, they need to show drivers precisely where riders are going to reduce the instances of cancelled rides.

inDrive’s business in Nigeria is having a great outlook, especially with its unique model, which has passengers and drivers of every kind flocking to its platform. But its model has exposed it to bad actors, and as such, there is a need to improve safety and security on its platform.

It also needs to put in place car inspection systems to improve the quality of vehicles on its platform.

For Uber, the company simply needs to come back from its elusiveness and be in the faces of people once again.

The post Bolt, Uber, inDrive: Ranking Nigeria’s e-hailing platforms for availability, pricing and safety in 2025 first appeared on Technext.