THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Afri Ride, a secure ride sharing mobile app with tailor-made solutions for the African travelling community, is now available in South Africa, and will be expanding into other African markets in the near future.
Joe Moyo, managing director at the ride sharing app, describes the app as incredibly simple to use. “All that users have to do is, to upload their travel details such as the start and end location, travel date and the number of empty seats that are available, this then allows travelers heading in the same direction to book their seat.”
“The most wasted resources, from a vehicle capacity standpoint, are the empty seats in moving cars. The idea behind Afri Ride is to make use of existing resources by offering the unoccupied seats in your car, or offering your car for rental,” says Moyo.
According to the Associations of Automobiles (AA), there are more people that need transport than there are rides. “So what better way than to provide a platform for the people who need the rides, basically a platform that safely connects travellers”.
Economic and other factors have made being a car owner more of a challenge than ever before – with the average number of car repossessions ranging from 600-1500 cars per month. It is easy to assume that car owners are battling to sufficiently meet all their financial obligations. In order to circumvent vehicle repossessions, Afri Ride provides the ultimate solution to subsidise the expenses associated with car ownership. “A car parked in a garage is not only depreciating in value but also running up the owner’s bill by way of insurance”, says Moyo who suggests listing your vehicle on Afri Ride and allowing users to borrow the car at a cost.
“Consumers are unsatisfied;” Moyo accredits the dissatisfaction to the lack of convenience during the booking process. “We have all experienced the headaches associated with hiring a car; tons of paperwork needs to be filled as well as the need to have an active credit card”. Afri Ride takes care of all the paperwork – all that users need to do, is to filter their search according to their needs and affordability and Afri Ride connects them to a pool of suitable vehicles.
“South Africa has been plagued by a wave of gender-based violence against women, we need to be realistic with ourselves and find solutions and strategies to avoid any further incidents”. “We are extremely proud to offer the Women Only Option; this feature is tailor-made to bring peace of mind to the women in our ride sharing community”. This feature brings peace of mind to women who want to travel exclusively with other women for security and social reasons.
In fact, the safety of the entire Afri Ride community is of paramount importance, says Moyo. Afri Ride has integrated a chat service (Mbira Chat) that allows users to communicate (live location, texting, voice call or video call) even before booking the seat or car. Moreover, Afri Ride protects its users’ money by facilitating all payments through a 3D secure platform to avoid any third-party fraudulent misuse. “We also have a 24-hour contact experience centre which is on hand at all times to assist our community members”, Moyo adds, effusively- “We are excited for South Africa to experience ride sharing, the safe and convenient way.”
Victoria Knibbs
For more information about Afri Ride please visit: www.afri-ride.com
