Surviving a Suspicious Bolt Trip

Most of the time I book an online ride because either I don't know the location I am going to, or my movement is urgent, or perhaps I just want convenience and to avoid the drama of the danfo drivers who would pick passengers and stop at short intervals, burning my time and also packing their passengers inside the vehicle as if they are chickens. lolz. In this case, online rides provide the comfort I need but with a higher cost.

I’ve had a fair share of online ride experiences using Bolt, which is my favorite app. In all, I have had some smooth experiences; I have also had semi-terrible experiences, while some of my experiences are really frustrating. It all depends on the kind of driver I have in contact with for the day. Having said that, I will share one of my online ride experiences, which went totally off-script.

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You know, there was a time my husband was out of a job for some months, and to keep the family running, he decided to use his car for Uber business. After a few weeks of joining the business, he came back one day and warned me to be very careful and always stay alert while booking a ride online. He went ahead to share with me terrible stories of what some Uber drivers do over here in Lagos with people's lives and thus the need to be very smart while dealing with online drivers. I didn't seem to understand very well what he was insinuating, but then I got the gist and thought it was one of those bloggers who manufacture rumors online to get some traffic, but then I later had a practical experience that almost cost my life... indeed, information is power, and being street smart is important, not only book smart.

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It was one hot afternoon when I booked a Bolt to go meet with a friend at Lekki. Everything seemed okay with my booking, and the driver just confirmed the trip. I kept watching him through my app, and he was driving to my home to pick me

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Surprisingly, he arrived and requested that I cancel the trip while we do an offline trip and assured me that I will pay the exact amount as was shown in the app. For safety reasons, I declined and insisted that we do in-app payment. He reluctantly accepted, and we took off.On our way, I noticed that he kept making calls, speaking a language I do not understand but not Yoruba, which is common here in Lagos. The suspicious part of it is that, as he was making those calls, he was glancing at me through the rearview mirror, and once we made eye contact, he would quickly withdraw his eyes like a thief.

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I was quite uncomfortable with the ride. A lot of things were running through my mind; immediately, I shared my location with my husband, sent him the car plate number, and every other vital piece of information. Within a short time, the driver took a local route instead of continuing through the highway 🛣️️. Oh no…my instincts were right anyway. I insisted that he follow the map and stop beating about the bush, but he foolishly defended himself that the local route was shorter. I mean, what kind of shorter route is he talking about when there was no traffic on the major road and the so-called shorter route has potholes on it? It was obvious that he had a hidden agenda, and his phone kept ringing repeatedly. Looking at him, he had no peace; he was just quietly uncomfortable. I immediately requested that he stop the vehicle while I pay him for the services so far.

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Guess his reaction? He started cursing me, asking if I am a witch or something; can you just imagine? The mistake I made was leaving him to go scot-free because he really needs to be interrogated. However, I had to use public transportation to finish up my journey.

It was a ride that opened my eyes to some realities of life, the happenings, and the need to always stay alert while using an online ride.

_{Images 1 & 2 were created using Meta AI, image 3 was a screenshot from my bolt app, while image 4 was taken from canva}