Bolt Partners Fintech Startup, CradPal to Offer "Ride Now, Pay Later" Service in Nigeria
Bolt, the ride-hailing platform, has entered into a partnership with CredPal, a Nigerian fintech startup, to provide a “ride now and pay later” service to its users, following an impressive performance in the previous year. Credpal’s partnership is a deliberate step toward developing seamless credit financing solutions for Nigerians and strengthening its Buy-Now-Pay-Later offering.
Bolt users can now take advantage of the CredPal Ride-on feature by signing up on the CredPal app and activating an option to pay for their Bolt rides at the end of the month or any other convenient date when they are financially buoyant.
Commenting on the partnership, Kwaku Ampadu-Manu, Bolt’s Country Sales Manager, stressed that Ride-On is a necessary product that would help accelerate the adoption of digital payments while providing Bolt riders with an alternative payment option. “This partnership gives riders access to a much-needed alternative that meets their mobility needs without immediately spending out of pocket, and we are happy to work with CredPal to foster our mission of making our cities for people and not cars.”
Fehintolu Olaogun, CEO and co-founder of CredPal on his part explained that the solution will enhance financial management for various income earners in Nigeria. “I believe transportation is one of the daily essentials that a working Nigerian considers when planning a monthly budget, so what we’ve done with CredPal Ride-On is offer a choice of using credit that has been availed to them to better manage their monthly expenses.”
How Bolt Riders can Access the Service
Bolt users must first sign up on the CredPal platform for it to underwrite their trip costs. They can then select CredPal as a payment option and activate an option to pay for their Bolt rides at the end of the month. Users can also select Ride-On, which enables flexible repayment during the recipient’s salary pay period. However, CradPal, the “ride now, pay later” underwriter has taken steps to mitigate or reduce bad debt to the barest minimum by devising ways to determine potential users’ creditworthiness before offering before extending the product to them.
The “ride now, pay later” option will benefit everyone because it will allow Nigerians to use ride-hailing services even when they are cashless and pay when it is convenient for them. It will also increase Bolt’s revenue through increased patronage as a result of this payment option, while also increasing CredPal’s app usage as a payment option.
This partnership comes on the heels of the ride-hailing company sharing insights from its activities in 2022, revealing interesting information such as the city in Nigeria that uses Bolt the most, top request locations and destinations, peak days, and highest top cities.
Bolt Shares Insights into its 2022 Activities
According to Bolt, the most performing cities with record rides were Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. In addition, the 2022 Children’s Day celebration was the most popular day for Bolt in Nigeria, with over 90,000 rides ordered in Abuja alone. The most popular day in Lagos, however, was May 6th, with over 120,000 rides ordered. While in Calabar and Owerri, February 14 was the busiest day, with over 10,000 rides each.
Bolt’s insight on tips given to drivers showed that Port Harcourt had the highest tip with $34 (N25,000), Owerri was next with $27 (N19,400), and the third was Yenagoa with $14 (N10,700) while the highest tip in Lagos and Abuja was $4 (N3,000).
The insight equally revealed that Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, was the most famous pick-up location in Nigeria, with over 200,000 pick-ups, while Shoprite Ikeja City Mall was the most renowned destination in Lagos alone, with over 122,000 drops. However, Wuse Market Road, Abuja, Nigeria, was the most popular destination in Nigeria, with over 130,000 drop-offs. At the same time, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, came second with over 124,000 drops.
According to Bolt, some riders used the platform nearly 1,000 times in 2022 alone to commute to various destinations. The highest rider in Lagos used the platform more than 1,200 times, making them the highest in Nigeria. Port Harcourt had over 1,100 rides, followed by Owerri, which had over 980 rides from a single rider.
Bolt is on its way to breaking records with this partnership with CradPal, as the ride now, pay later offer, which alleviates the burden of instant payment, will drive more patronage to the ride-hailing platform and establish it as truly the people’s choice.