ORide, a bike-hailing app launched under the hub of OPay intends to make going around Lagos easier. On the average most Lagosians spend 3 to 7 hours in traffic every day. A Mainlander who works in Island has to wake up at 3am or 4am to be able commute to work. The drastic traffic logjam is one of the reason many dread Lagos, the metropolitan city where the “Nigerian Dream” happens. The line of trailers parked along the pedestrian sideways contribute to the long hours of traffic. And sometimes, they, too, are stuck in same traffic, and to commute one would need a bike.
However, ORide is entirely not a new idea: Gokada was the first bike-hailing service in Nigeria. ORide is one of Opera’s investments in an attempt to run the full-fledged digital community. Africa’s two-wheeler market is apparently growing at an alarming rate, and OPay seem to want to tap into the opportunity. According to Tech sci report, the two-wheeler market has been forecasted to be worth $9 billion in the year 2021.
About OPay— the hub.
OPay is a payment channel launched in May 2018— it is Opera’s Fintech venture. Opay is a digital bank which lets its users pay utility bills, purchase airtime or mobile data, top online accounts, perform in-and-out transactions, or send and receive money to and from any Nigerian bank within the app. Also, the Opay’s MasterCard and Visa affords users to pay online for goods and services in selected countries globally. While as a mobile payment solution, doubles also as a hub for ORide, its own fleet of Okada hailing service. On a section of the Opay’s app lies ORide. So, with the OPay app, you can make payments and order a bike ride too. A seamless switch from a payment solution to a bike-hailing service all in one app.
The ORide ; How it works.
ORide officially launched on May 27th, 2019. With Ridwan Olalere, as the Director of Product. ORide is rather a bike-hailing service and not for a taxi. Unlike Uber and Taxify, which have been designed for convenient peer-to-peer ride sharing, and ride service hailing, ORide is more of a means to navigate your way in the Lagos traffic. Okadas are more likely key mode of transportation in urban and rural areas suitable to ply the deplorable state of our roads, aside from the fact that you get to avoid the frantic traffic too.
And that’s the idea around ORide: to hail Okada rides near you, effectively navigate through the traffic and move cheaply around certain locations.
As the third bike-hailing service in Nigeria, it has come up with what looks like a marketing strategy to draw in customers. Firstly, at your first ride you get 90% discount, from the OPay app after you click on the “Take a ride, ” you can add the discount to your wallet, using the “ORIDENOW” discount code. Secondly, when you book a ride on the OPay app, you instantly get NGN 2350 coupons of free rides:
How to get the coupon
- Click on the profile icon at the top right of the app page.
- Click on the wallet tab and type coupon code in the textbox
- Click on the ‘get coupons.’
Nevertheless, apart from the emphasis on luring users to use Oride efforts have been made to put safety into consideration. The motorcycle riders have been trained by safety experts with a 50% rate. Since, this is another concern when it comes to riding a bike to your destination, the way the bikers crawl through the tiny spaces between two trailers (I almost had a near-death experience on my second visit to Lagos, while on a bike along apapa road). And this is an area, ORide is tremendously working on, by mapping out a driving improvement plan for their potential riders.
Although ORide has groundbreaking ideas set to push the product, it is worthy noting that the two-wheeler market already have competitors who are not fazing out any soon. There is GoKada, who have announced in an interview, about the company’s plans to add $ 5.3 million in doubling its operations. And then, Max, a similar bike-hailing company. For a great shot at the market, their growth critically now lies in its execution and management for it to stand the test of time.
