Are students safe when using Bolt in Potchefstroom?

Although Bolt South Africa (Bolt SA) says they ensure the safety of their passengers through various safety features, measures such as driver screening and verification seem to be ineffectively implemented.

A petition by North-West University (NWU) student Atang Swartbooi (20), founder of YoubeforeMe!  and a second-year LLB student at Potchefstroom campus, demands that all Bolt drivers should be vetted and verified as the current processes seem ineffective in keeping passengers safe. The petition currently has over 133 000 signatures.

Bolt SA is a popular e-hailing service in most cities and large towns. It is popular among students for its affordability and in Potchefstroom it does not have to compete with other e-hailing services such as Uber, said Dineo Mashiane (22), a marketing honours student at the NWU Potchefstroom campus. She said she is aware of reported violence and assaults on Bolt SA passengers but still chooses to use the service due to its affordability.

Swartbooi said that several people have long complained about Bolt South Africa not securing the safety of their passengers. However, the lack of action towards dealing with these accusations allgedly contributed to the sexual assault of a passenger. IOL reported the most prominent accusations heard in a case against a 25-year-old Bolt driver in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg are two charges of rape, kidnapping and robbery.

The petition and subsequent social media awareness have brought forward several stories of assault, theft and gender-based violence (GBV) by Bolt SA drivers.

Bolt SA says that the petition is based on misinformation.

Gareth Taylor, Bolt SA’s regional manager, said Bolt SA has effective safety measures that complement its verification process.  He said that drivers require a Professional Driving Permit (PrDP), which requires police clearance. 

“In addition to the police clearance, Bolt requires additional criminal background checks – as an extra layer of driver verification – performed by an independent provider, Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE),” Taylor added.

“The authenticity of the driver’s application is verified by a Bolt operations team member,” Taylor said.

Jacob Baloyi (22), Bolt SA driver, said there were some documents that he did not upload when he joined the service. According to Baloyi, there are only three mandatory documents: a Professional Drivers Permit (PrDP), vehicle roadworthy certificate, an identity document and a driver’s picture.  

“I did perform the criminal background checks with MIE, but not the police clearance with SAPS,” Baloyi said.

Katlego Moleme (29), another Bolt SA driver, had submitted the same documents as Baloyi, also adding his proof of residence.

According to Moleme, verification takes about a day or two, then the driver is called for training. “The only thing they teach you during the training is how to operate the app … I didn’t attend but did watch the tutorials by myself,” he said. Moleme complained about Bolt SA not training their drivers on how to treat passengers. 

Bolt  SA encourages passengers to verify their driver by making sure the vehicle model, license plate, and driver picture align with the information provided on the app. Passengers are encouraged only to start their trip when all the information checks out and to report incidents where this does not align.

“No other form of public transport offers this level of information about the driver – which means the passenger can verify the driver before they enter the vehicle,” Taylor said.

Bolt supplies the passenger with information on the vehicle model, license plate, and driver picture. PHOTO: Elsje-Marié Jordaan

Swartbooi, however, believes this is ineffective, especially since most of the vetting processes mentioned by Bolt place the responsibility on the passenger. Furthermore, the womenʼs only service is more expensive than Bolt Go, making it an impractical option for many South Africans

An NWU Potchefstroom student (21) allegedly assaulted by a Bolt SA driver on 26 March 2022 said she did not check the number plate or registration, only the car’s make, because she was in a rush and trusted Bolt SA due to not having experienced problems with them before. She said she did not verify the driver because he wore dark shades. 

She did not report the incident to Bolt or SAPS as she immediately uninstalled the Bolt app and she has no viable proof that the incident happened. She does not believe that reporting would matter as “nothing happens”. 

Baloyi said most people do not report incidents with Bolt, instead taking the situation to social media. This, according to Bolt, prevents them from taking action without a formal complaint.

“In cases where a driver has been reported, Bolt will block the driver for some time. Probably seven to ten days and unblock the driver if anything does not come of the incident reported. After those days, the driver can then continue operating,” Baloyi said. 

According to Taylor, drivers are only suspended for a very limited amount of reasons. “The first suspension is for one day, the second suspension is for seven days, the third suspension is for longer or a permanent block, depending on the reasons for the suspension.”

He however adds that drivers are immediately suspended when a passenger reports any form of assault or if they are the subject of a SAPS investigation. They can only rejoin the platform if they are cleared of all accusations or charges.

Moleme said, “Bolt does not do regular background checks and when comparing Bolt with Uber the e-hailing service does not track drivers accused of multiple crimes.”

“What we want is a better implementation of safety measures, because what they currently have is ineffective … because people are still getting sexually assulted,” Swartbooi said. He believes the petition will bring about social change as more e-hailing services become aware of what issues affect passengers and have the opportunity to evaluate their safety protocols.

Swartbooi suggests better verification protocols, such as facial recognition of drivers and dashcams in cars to ensure accountability of drivers and the safety of passengers. – Reitumetse Mooki & Elsje-Marié Jordaan