Bolt South Africa is rolling out expanded rider identity verification and urging passengers to actively use in-app safety tools as part of a broader push to strengthen accountability and trust on its platform.
The announcement was made at Bolt’s inaugural Rider and Passenger Safety Summit in Johannesburg last week. It coincides with Youth Month, a period the company says highlights the need for safe, reliable transport for young people commuting to study, work and socialise.
The enhanced verification process forms part of Bolt’s ongoing efforts to improve compliance with South Africa’s National Land Transport Act. Riders are prompted to enter their South African ID number and take a selfie. In most cases, verification is completed automatically within minutes. If the system cannot verify immediately, riders must upload an ID document for additional checks against Department of Home Affairs records.
Voluntary verification is already available nationwide. Mandatory verification is now triggered in three scenarios: the Women for Women category; riders flagged by Bolt’s “Safety Score” risk model; and all new users within their first month on the platform.
Sbu Ngwane, senior GM at Bolt South Africa, said the move responds directly to user concerns. “The Ipsos research confirmed what we hear from riders every day: safety and trust are central to how South Africans choose to move around their cities. Expanding rider verification is an important step in strengthening accountability on the platform because accountability is enhanced when users are verified and identifiable.”
The Ipsos Ride-Hailing Safety Index Report, commissioned by Bolt, found that 90% of South Africans chose ride-hailing because it felt safer than other transport. It also found that 92% felt safer using it at night than other transport, and 96% agreed in-app safety features make ride-hailing safer overall.
Vutomi Ndlovu, senior operations specialist for trust and safety at Bolt South Africa, told the summit that driver checks are ongoing, not a one-time event. “All drivers on the Bolt platform must meet specific requirements. They need to have a valid driver’s licence, a professional driving permit as well as a clear criminal record check." Ndlovu said Bolt conducts criminal record checks on all drivers and blocks those with adverse findings.
Every South African driver must complete two identity verifications via selfie checks matched to government databases and their profile photo. Drivers who fail fraud checks – such as uploading photos of objects or using someone else’s identity – are blocked permanently, with no appeal.
Safety tools under-utilised, Bolt says
Ndlovu highlighted Bolt’s Safety Toolkit and said adoption remains low. Features include Emergency Assist via response partner CASI; live trip sharing; trusted contacts; audio trip recording controlled by the rider; and a one-time pick-up code to prevent wrong pickups.
The platform uses real-time machine learning to detect anomalies like long stops, route deviations or trips taking longer than expected. It then prompts riders to confirm they are safe.
Yet usage data shows only one in five trips are shared. Emergency features like SOS and audio recording see use in roughly one in 200 trips. “Looking at the data in isolation, it gives us the assumption that things are okay when they actually are not, and that’s why these engagements are really important to us,” Ndlovu said.
Women's safety was another key focus area at the summit. The Ipsos research found that women account for 70% of ride-hailing users in SA. Many respondents cited personal security concerns, late-night travel and avoiding harassment on public transport as reasons for choosing ride-hailing services.
Bolt used the summit to showcase its Women for Women category, which enables female passengers to request trips with verified female driver partners. This provides an additional layer of confidence and comfort for women using the platform.
Ngwane stressed that verification alone is not enough: “No single feature can eliminate every safety incident on its own. That is why we continue to invest in a broader safety ecosystem that combines technology, education, partnerships, operational safeguards and collaboration with regulators and law enforcement.”
The rider verification expansion builds on Bolt's broader safety investments globally and locally. Globally, Bolt has committed €100 million between 2024 and 2027 to strengthen safety across its platform through enhanced technology, safety features and support systems.
Bolt urged riders to verify driver and vehicle details before entering a vehicle and to report safety concerns directly through the app.
A panel discussion closed the summit with a focus on shared accountability across the mobility ecosystem. The discussion: "Beyond the app: Why ride-hailing safety requires all of us", was moderated by broadcaster Gcina Madida.
Earlier this year, Bolt intensified its crackdown on driver profile sharing in SA. It introduced stricter enforcement measures by increasing driver ID verification checks on the driver app.
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