Government launches ride hailing service, ‘Lagos Ride’
In yet another ambitious move to improve the aesthetics of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the government of Lagos, has rolled out 1000 new cars to kick-start Lagos Ride, a government-backed ride-hailing service.
The new Lagride in Lagos State, 1000 more to join soon. The goal is 5000 taxis.
This is commendable ? pic.twitter.com/wHEISunKP9
— OTUNBA ?? (@ManLikeIcey) February 8, 2022
Some of the vehicles were displayed at the Lagos secretariat in Alausa on Tuesday evening.
What exactly is the Lagos Ride?
This is in response to the governor’s announcement in March last year that Lagos had entered into a partnership with GAC Motors to deploy 1000 SUVs painted blue and white to be used as taxis in the state, moving away from the staple yellow and black cars and buses that truly embodied the zeitgeist of Lagos.
This new ride-hailing service is yet another ploy by the APC led government to cater to middle-class Lagosians and present Sanwo-Olu as a governor who gets things done.
“The Lagos Ride Scheme is another innovative policy of our administration targeted at making life easier for Lagosians, improving mobility and creating a seamless multi-modal transportation system,” the governor tweeted.
However, this new venture only pushes the leadership further into split-screen because it will drastically alter the lives of working families in the state who rely on taxi and danfo bus drivers as breadwinners. Furthermore, the government’s alternative, the BRT, is nearly 50% more expensive than danfo buses, and the government has done nothing to reduce the extra-long lines that dominate BRT terminals.
Lagos Ride’s website informs prospective riders that this is a path to being “better than your neighbor,” adding that riders “will earn more for each shared trip you fulfill.” On their website, they also feature a review of Lagos Ride, which claims that this is the path to “fewer cars on the road by 2025.”
Lagos’ journey to eliminate public transportation
Lagos has been on a mission to eliminate non-government-endorsed public transportation systems since the administration of Babatunde Raji Fashola.
It has consistently banned okadas in the city’s traffic gridlock and extended the so-called “BRT lane” for Primero, the government-backed public transportation provider that is also painted white and blue and is managed by Fola Tinubu, a close relative of former governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This decision means that in a city of over 15 million people, a lane in the center of the state’s major highways will only be used by BRT buses.
The government has failed to provide a viable alternative to danfo buses or okada, as well as a viable plan for the jobs that will be lost if it succeeds in eliminating public transportation. Many Danfo bus and other public transportation riders claim to earn significantly more than BRT drivers.
Nonetheless, the governor stated about Lagos Ride, “the scheme is in fulfillment of our desire to provide residents with better transportation options.” Though the Lagos state government has stated that riders will own the car after a certain period of time, Techpoint reports that each of the cars costs as much as $26,000, or approximately 11,000,000 Naira, and that riders will have to pay for years.
This is not the first time the Lagos state government is taking this route.
The government tried the Red Cab, but it failed due to a lack of maintenance and the high cost of rides. Lagos partnered with Nathaniel Gideon and Segun Cole in 2020 to launch Ekocab, which also failed to break even.
Will the Lagos Ride be a success?
Lagos Ride has only recently begun and is still unpopular among Lagosians, so it is too early to predict whether it will be a success or not. That will be determined by factors such as the cost of rides and the return services on which many Uber and Bolt users rely in the event of a bad ride or a false debit.
