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Ride sharing platform launches in South Africa

By , ITWeb
South Africa , 23 Dec 2019

Ride sharing platform launches in South Africa

Afri Ride, a secure ride sharing mobile app with tailor-made solutions for the African traveling community, is now available in South Africa, and will be expanding into other African markets in the near future.

Joe Moyo, managing director at the ride sharing app, describes the app as incredibly simple to use. "All that users have to do is, to upload their travel details such as the start and end location, travel date and the number of empty seats that are available, this then allows travellers heading in the same direction to book their seat."

"The most wasted resources, from a vehicle capacity standpoint, are the empty seats in moving cars. The idea behind Afri Ride is to make use of existing resources by offering the unoccupied seats in your car, or offering your car for rental," says Moyo.

The company claims that according to the Associations of Automobiles (AA), there are more people that need transport than there are rides.

"So what better way than to provide a platform for the people who need the rides, basically a platform that safely connects travellers," says Moyo.

Economic and other factors have made being a car owner more of a challenge than ever before - with the average number of car repossessions ranging from 600-1500 cars per month. It is easy to assume that car owners are battling to sufficiently meet all their financial obligations.

In order to circumvent vehicle repossessions, Afri Ride provides the ultimate solution to subsidise the expenses associated with car ownership. "A car parked in a garage is not only depreciating in value but also running up the owner's bill by way of insurance", says Moyo who suggests listing your vehicle on Afri Ride and allowing users to borrow the car at a cost.

"South Africa has been plagued by a wave of gender-based violence against women, we need to be realistic with ourselves and find solutions and strategies to avoid any further incidents". "We are extremely proud to offer the Women Only Option; this feature is tailor-made to bring peace of mind to the women in our ride sharing community". This feature brings peace of mind to women who want to travel exclusively with other women for security and social reasons.

In fact, the safety of the entire Afri Ride community is of paramount importance, says Moyo.

Afri Ride has integrated a chat service (Mbira Chat) that allows users to communicate (live location, texting, voice call or video call) even before booking the seat or car. Moreover, Afri Ride protects its users' money by facilitating all payments through a 3D secure platform to avoid any third-party fraudulent misuse.

The company also has a 24-hour contact experience centre.

Moyo adds, effusively, "We are excited for South Africa to experience ride sharing, the safe and convenient way."

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