Video clips showing a motorcade of sky-blue and white SUVs and saloon cars on the third-mainland bridge went viral earlier Monday.
Business Day checks revealed that the rides, branded LagRide, are vehicles for the Lagos Ride initiative, which the Lagos State government announced in the first quarter of 2021.
So here are five things you need to know about The Lagos Ride Scheme:
It is targeted at pushing out rickety taxis
The Lagos Ride Scheme is a government initiative aimed at eliminating all rickety cars used as taxis on the roads of Nigeria’s economic capital. The scheme allows operators, who are not owners of the taxis they drive, to acquire a vehicle through the “lease-to-own” scheme. The Lagos Ride Scheme will help the driver/operator own the car in three to four years after fully paying for it.
At least 1000 SUVs are involved
In 2021, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced via his Twitter handle that Lagos Ride will deploy 1,000 new Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) throughout the city. According to Sanwo-Olu, this would fulfil “the desire of improving mobility and creating a multi-modal transportation system for Lagosians”.
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The cost starts from N10 million
Painted blue and white, the cost of Lagos Ride-branded SUVs starts from N10 million ($26,000), but the governor revealed that the Cooperative Society in the Lagos Ministry of Wealth Creation will allow drivers to pay monthly installments over a four-year period.
It will support carpooling
Lagos Ride will allow users to book and split the cost of a ride with other users who have similar transit patterns. It will connect users based on their preferred pick-up and drop-off points, which must be no more than 1 km apart and no more than 5 minutes apart.
Interested operators can apply online
Application details and processes are available online at www.lagosride.com, with additional links available in the Android and iOS play stores under the name “lagosride.”
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