Ebi Atawodi, General Manager, Uber West Africa

Azeez Disu

Global ridesharing company, Uber has disclosed that its pick up time is now 8 minutes as against 30 minutes in the past.  The company said the pickup time will reduce as time goes on and it is geared toward making their customers enjoy unbeatable driving experience.

“Yaba, Lagos pick up time was 30 minutes but today it is 8 minutes. Uber Nigeria said it has adequate mechanism in place to respond and address individual concerns and that complaints are responded to quickly and as when due.” General Manager, West Africa at Uber, Ebi Atawodi revealed.

The company urge its customers to always rate a driver after taking the Uber ride and if there is any complaint, it should be logged as soon as possible and it will be attended to immediately.  Uber revealed that its drivers undergo series of training to make them discharge their duties professionally and when there is a lot of complaint from customers about a driver or frequent cancelation of trip by a driver, he or she will be barred and be mandated to undergo fresh training and also psychological examination will be carried out to ascertain if the driver is in the right frame of mind to drive on the Uber platform.

Additionally, Uber has partnered with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to offer loans to budding transport entrepreneurs at just 5% per annum. Industry watchers say the offer is 15% lower than any other financial institution.

Ebi Atawodi, General Manager, Uber West Africa and her team

With the partnership, Uber entrepreneurs can buy any new locally-assembled car up to a value of N3 million and only need to contribute 5% of the vehicle purchase price when they buy the car.

Atawodi explained that more cars will be allowed to operate on the platform, in order to solve the challenges of congestion in megacity like Lagos. Also, Uber- Pool will soon be introduced to the market. Uber-Pool is a situation where a partner driver takes more than one passengers who are going to the same direction.

According to her, “In this case the cost is shared. The cost is marginally cheaper. When it does come, it will be half the cost of boarding Uber taxi because price will be shared by occupants based on the distance each person covers.”

In addition, she said local entrepreneurs and Lagos state government have helped strengthen the Uber platform and more investors are welcome “We are encouraged by the Lagos State’s commitment to ridesharing platforms like Uber. Their support of local entrepreneurs not only fosters the growth of sustainable businesses, but strengthens a highly-viable transport industry in Lagos.” She said.