Bike hailing business is gaining a huge traction in Lagos, as Nigeria's commercial nerve center with a population of over 20 million people is notorious for traffic congestion. And how best for commuters to beat the traffic, if not through a good old bike ride -popularly known as Okada, in the local parlance!
While there are about half a dozen bike hailing services in Nigeria, the bike hailing startups are still saddled with the problem of unregulated market in Lagos, and as such, are vulnerable to some issues that may affect their future operations, if nothing urgent is done about it.
Okada, on the other hand, are not quite difficult to pick up anywhere in Lagos; as they are everywhere and you just have to wave at them to stop and haggle with the riders until an agreed price that's acceptable is reached.
Top Bike hailing Service in Lagos
ORide
ORide is a bike hailing service launched under Opera OPay, which aims to make commute around Lagos more easier. The service was officially launched on May 27, 2019. But unlike the taxi hailing services like Uber and Taxify, it is not designed with the convenience of peer-to-peer ride sharing, rather ORide is only a means to navigate the Lagos traffic.
To access the ORide service, you'll have to go through the OPay app, which though the UI is not a very user-friendly, sure gets the job done. It requires that you first download the OPay app from the Play store to your Android phone, and create an account, which will send SMS code for authentication when you try to log into the app for any extended period.
The obvious advantage of ORide over others is that they have a more spread of riders, making it easy to get a rider on any commute. But the fact that it uses the OPay wallet can be a bit stressful, given that you must create an account, even when you want to take just a short trip.
MAX
Max is a bike hailing service that assures a stressful experience as the app is pretty easy to use and ensures good user friendly interface. Though the maps integration appeared a little scrumpy, but on the good side, you'd only have to wait about three minutes to be connected to a rider, referred to as "Champion” on the service.
The con of this service is mainly the dearth of riders, as getting a champion can take as much as 25 minutes, which if you’re in a haste or stranded at a place, that could be a problem, but waiting in the comfort of your house may not be the worst proposition.
Gokada
Gokada is yet another bike hailing service in Lagos that promises an easier experience with their recent re-branding. You simply download and install the app, and you are good to go!
Gokada works more with verified and trained professional bikers to provide better service experiences to riders. In other words, you know exactly what you'll be getting, unlike the regular okada bikes who are largely unpredictable and mostly untrained in good service delivery.
Bikes will long remain relevant, as mainly due to unsuitable road networks and unavailability of effective traffic planning, commuters will always tend to find alternative transport systems to ply through the deplorable roads, which also adds to the fact that they'd get to beat the frantic traffic jam as well.
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