Flit Ride, founded by Madagascar’s Tolotra Samuel Randriakotonjanahary is an answer to Uber in the country but with better terms and rates for its driver-partners than Uber, Bolt or traditional cabs.
Flit Ride, according to Samuel, aims to disrupt the ride-hailing industry by introducing a marketplace connecting riders to existing taxi drivers where drivers can bid fare price like the recently launched Russian-backed inDriver.
Flit Ride is primarily targeting Madagascar, Tunisia, Mauritius, Egypt, Senegal, Botswana, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Mali, Central African Republic, DR Congo and Burkina Faso and works like all the other hailing apps safe for fare bidding by drivers.
After hailing, a rider is matched to the driver, the platform will process the rider’s payment done through either mobile money, Flit tokens or credit card.
According to the founder, Flit ride aims to end the low driver wages experienced on other platforms such as Uber which has led to poor overall driver retention. Uber takes between 20 — 25% fee of the total fare a rider pays, leaving the driver in lack even after working.
” Flit Ride drivers would earn a higher wage as they will be able to keep 95% of their earning. Moreso, Flit ride will partner with existing taxi drivers instead of competing against them. Flit Ride unique is because it is very scalable. Flit Ride can virtually expand anywhere because And almost every country in the world still has a taxi service. Hence Flit Ride’s goal is not to just become a ride-hailing marketplace for the African region, its plan is to really disrupt the entire ride-hailing industry.
Flit ride aims to disrupt the ride-hailing industry by introducing a marketplace connecting riders to existing taxi drivers via its Flit Ride mobile app, allowing riders to request for rides and drivers to bid fare price.
Flit Ride aims to help riders so that they no longer expose themselves to the insecurity involved in street hailing in Madagascar and be able to pay via cashless payment systems offered by the platform and its escrow service.
Flit Ride says its uniqueness lies on the fact that it empowers existing taxi drivers, which are virtually present in every city of the world. By eliminating the need to build an entirely new fleet of drivers out of the non-professional inexperienced driver, Flit Ride’s cost of expansion drops significantly.
The platform also promises higher driver earnings as it allows them the ability to keep 95% of their earnings as opposed to platforms such as Uber and Bolt which take around 25 percent of the driver revenues.
The platform works simply. A rider makes a request and sets the origin along with the destination of the trip then chooses car preference such as Car type, Number of seats among others.
When the driver receives the request, he bids a price and will either pick the ride depending on whether his bid was a maximum and minimum one compared to other drivers. The rider chooses an offer and once the ride is completed, the rider releases the money into the driver’s wallet.
Though Flit Ride is promising to change the lives of drivers the same way Uber did when it launched, things might not be as easy as the firm expects them to be. Uber, the mother of car-hailing is expected to pay $649 million for years of unpaid employment taxes for its drivers in New Jersey. The state argues that Uber misclassified the workers as independent contractors and not as employees.
New Jersey’s state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued the request last week to Uber after an audit uncovered $530 million in back taxes for unemployment and disability insurance from 2014 to 2018.
According to the New York Times, several states and cities have moved aggressively to rein in gig-economy companies that depend on inexpensive and independent labor, potentially reshaping their business models.
For example, California recently set up a new law that could require that workers be designated as employees with access to basic protections like minimum wage and unemployment insurance. The paper also reports that in New York City, drivers for ride-hailing apps have started receiving a minimum wage, even though they are not classified as employees.
Flit Ride should, therefore, be well aware that these requirements might soon become the norm and every company might be required to classify drivers as employees.
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