SafeBoda is the pioneer brand of the Boda hailing industry which aims at helping riders maneuver traffic in a cleaner and safer way than ever before with fair trip costs and estimates. In case you thought the Orange camp has any plans of letting UberBoda or Taxify Boda dominate for a quarter in the Boda hailing league, then you could be wrong.
Last year, we managed to hook up a ride with the 2 Wheel hailing leader as we had managed to test UberBoda and Taxify boda rides earlier. Well, SafeBoda now seems to have government support which could extend its lead and boost the fast-rising boda hailing industry in Uganda.
All this transpired during the orange camps bi-annual party where the Minister of Kampala graced the event for another annual roundup. Spicing up the event, all 3 co-founders, Alastair Sussock, Maxime and Ricky Thompson raised their concerns to the government to make adjustments in the current state of the rising industry.
“We need separate parking lots and a reduction in the driving permit fees” Ricky Rapa Thompson exclaimed to the Minister of Kampala Betty Kamya. In return, the city head wondered how the 2 wheel industry is organized and the orange camp compliance rate, to a point that, the exclaimed wish may have turned into a sweet command to the authorities.
“We shall try our level best to create SEPARATE motorbike lanes on Traffic lights and also call upon Gov’t to look into the fees levied on Boda permits. Otherwise, I am very SURPRISED to see an organised section of Boda riders in Kampala, we shall surely support you in all your needs to fully operate in Kampala and continue to promote Safety to city travellers” – Betty Kamya, Minister of Kampala
SafeBoda domination plans for 2019
3 years back, SafeBoda was a sole struggling startup trying to impact the way people travel within Kampala and promote safety by granting every rider a free helmet on each and every trip. By then, the camp operated with less than 600 drivers in Kampala, not until the 1000 mark was met by the time 2017 came around.
Currently, SafeBoda is run by over 8,000 drivers operating within the city center and the company aims to achieve the 30,000 drivers target by the time we see 2020 5G signals. In 2019, the company aims to protect its lions share with a major motive of beating competitors in its own initiated game.
The same way Nairobi welcomed the orange camp with open arms, is the same other African countries like Tanzania and Nigeria are set to see the SafeBoda flares cruising on their city streets. This was confirmed by one of the company directors Ricky Thompson and further groomed interest in becoming a reliable solution in every country that has rooming motorbikes.
Now that Uber just got a Lite version of their main regular app, we see competition from all rival companies to share the orange iced cake. Henceforth, as we see SafeBoda progressing to greater heights with with the projected government support, does this mean ordinary motorbikes could soon bid farewell to Kampala? That will be a question for another day.
Well, its all a matter of time though we sense a gradual shakedown in the motorbike hailing league as the likes of DialJack, TaxifyBoda, UberBoda are to furiously battle SafeBoda which now has a recommendation from both the Ministry of works & transport and soon Kampala.
