Skip to main content

Ugandan start-up ride-sharing app aims to improve road safety

Ugandan start-up SafeBoda has launched a ride sharing app, which it claims offers 20,000 safe boda rides per day. Bodas are a common form of motorcycle taxi, providing a popular mode of transport in Uganda and Kenya where the transit infrastructure is less developed. Cheap and efficient, they are able to move around the traffic congestion. However, with little or no formal training required, many accidents and deaths are caused by unsafe boda drivers. SafeBoda, started by a group including former bod
February 9, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Ugandan start-up SafeBoda has launched a ride sharing app, which it claims offers 20,000 safe boda rides per day.

Bodas are a common form of motorcycle taxi, providing a popular mode of transport in Uganda and Kenya where the transit infrastructure is less developed. Cheap and efficient, they are able to move around the traffic congestion. However, with little or no formal training required, many accidents and deaths are caused by unsafe boda drivers.

SafeBoda, started by a group including former boda drivers, aims to change all that by providing their drivers with helmets for the drivers and their passengers, as well as a personalised reflective jacket for each driver to improve visibility and safety. The company also ensures that the motorcycles are well-maintained.

Drivers are also provided with training and must commit to SafeBoda’s driver code of conduct, which focuses on customer service, traffic rules, road safety and bike maintenance. All SafeBoda drivers also undergo Uganda Red Cross certification, including training in road safety awareness and basic first aid.

Certified drivers are listed on SafeBoda’s app, where customers can order a taxi and are told which driver will pick them up. Customers can also rate the driver for safe driving and customer service via the app.

Related Content

  • Robin Chase interview: Heaven and hell
    June 13, 2018
    A shared vision - or even much of a conversation at all - about what a better mobility balance looks like has been lacking…until now. Andrew Stone speaks to Zipcar founder Robin Chase about fairness – and the importance of not demonising cars
  • White lines? Cyclists need more
    August 5, 2020
    Just painting lines on the road isn’t sufficient to persuade most people to cycle – you need to separate them from motor vehicles altogether. David Arminas talks to transportation engineer Tyler Golly about the Covid ‘wake-up call’
  • A short guide to the shared mobility galaxy
    April 28, 2021
    This spring, a new book will be published with the mind-blowing title Shared Mobility Rocks: a Planner’s Guide to the Shared Mobility Galaxy. ITS International asks co-authors Friso Metz and Rebecca Karbaumer to share their golden rules
  • Increased automation is already improving road safety
    April 20, 2017
    Richard Cuerden considers how many of the technologies developed as part of a move toward autonomous vehicles are already being deployed as ADAS improve road safety. The drive to create autonomous vehicles has caused a re-evaluation of what is needed to safely navigate today’s roads and the development of systems that can replace the driver in many scenarios. However, many manufacturers are not waiting for ‘tomorrow’ and are already incorporating these systems in their new cars as Advanced Driver Assistanc