Bolt has a Lagos Airport park but drivers need police biometric clearance to use it

Airport services are one of the more lucrative points of business for taxi operators in Lagos. This is because of the sheer number of travellers coming in from all over the world through the ports; travellers who can actually afford to pay good money for the luxury of their services.

e-Hailing operators are no different, with several of them venturing in and around the airport vicinity in search of patronage. But this has often led to disagreements and clashes with the registered traditional airport taxi operators who believe the e-hailers are out for their business and reduce their earnings.

However, reports suggest fliers mostly prefer the services of e-hailing companies over airport taxis. In 2024, following the suspension of airport taxis at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja after several clashes among themselves, travellers said they preferred the services of e-hailing drivers to airport taxis.

Speaking about the disagreements, a traveller who prefers e-hailers to airport taxis said: “They are giving Bolt and Uber guys wahala for that airport no be small. Honestly, the wahala is too much. Just arrange with one Bolt/Uber driver and call him when you arrive at the airport. When I call the Uber guy, he’ll just come as if we know each other and we move.”

Many passengers have suggested to the Federal Aviation Agency of Nigeria (FAAN) that e-hailing companies like Bolt and Uber should be permitted to operate alongside airport taxis once they resume business. They hope that this competition will lower the high fares charged by the taxis due to their monopoly on the airport taxi business.

See also: ‘Our app is our park’- AUATON faction faults airport car parks for Uber/Bolt drivers

E-hailing drivers, on their part, have argued for separate taxi parks to be made available for them. This would put an end to the quarrels with the airport taxi operators once and for all. Though some others have argued that e-hailers do not need a park as their app is their park, the FAAN acquiesced and made plans to establish a parking space for e-hailers.

Bolt park at the Lagos Airport

In 2022, the FAAN decided to allocate a parking space for e-hailing drivers. However, e-hailing companies are required to pay for the park since they represent the organisations that drivers work for. Of the three major ride-hailing companies, only Bolt agreed to pay for the park, becoming the only company to have an airport car park.

But to have access to the park, drivers must undergo biometric screening and verification. Thus, the driver will be required to visit the Police Character Certificate Force at the Federal Criminal Investigative Department (FCID), Alagbon Police Division in Ikoyi, to undergo a fingerprint biometric check. They will then be issued a police character certificate that would be presented to the Directorate of Aviation Security (AVSEC).

Police Character Certificate

The AVSEC would then issue an identity card to the driver, marking the final approval to use the park and pick up riders from the Airport. This is the same process the airport taxi operators go through.

The Bolt taxi park hasn’t come without some controversy though. In 2024, the FAAN issued a directive for e-hailing drivers to pay a fee of N45,000 for access to the park and airport taxi services that come with it. This would lead to protests from the drivers’ union, the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON). The idea was shelved following the protests and today, driver leaders confirm that aside from the biometric capturing, drivers are not levied for using the park.

Another controversy would rock the park in the same 2024, when Bolt was accused of mandating drivers using the park to wear Bolt-branded vests. This is despite the fact that drivers operate across various other apps like Uber, InDrive, Rida etc. Drivers at the time described it as an insensitive ploy by the company to monopolise the car e-hailing market system.

While some Bolt loyalists agreed to wear the branded vests, many others did not. However, wearing a branded vest is not mandatory and drivers could go and come as they wish, regardless of attire.

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