IT News Nigeria:
Plentywaka, bus-hailing service app launched September 2019, has recorded over 15,000 downloads. The recent upgrade of the app to version 2.0 is a revolution and delight to its teaming customers and IT News Nigeria was there.
To begin with, Plentywaka allows riders to book seats and pay in a hassle-free bus ride and it commenced operation with 25 new buses.
Speaking on Thursday, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Mr. Enagwolor Johnny said Plentywaka platform is the first and only bus-hailing platform that creates an avenue for individuals to venture into the transportation industry by sponsoring project units and receiving returns at the end of their sponsorship. He noted that the last three months have seen the bus-hailing business slowly becoming a big brand people can associate with.
The version 2.0 App has come with notable improvements according to the VP, Operations, PlentyWaka, Mr. Afolabi Oluseyi.
The improvements were made based on users feedback and they include:
- Phone number authentication during registration. The 1.0 saw just email addresses as the information needed for registration, but this improvement has the added advantage of authentication through a phone number. During login, however, you have the option for using either the phone number or email address.
- Direction and Destination. Destinations can be approached via different directions and this fact was leveraged on for this improvement. During input of destinations, you get a chance to be more specific by also choosing the directions.
- Option for booking more than a seat. Family and friends are everything and this is acknowledged by the improved option to book seats for your family and friends so you all can enjoy a ride together. You can even book and pay for the whole available seats in a bus.
- Plentywaka purse. The 2.0 version comes with the plentywaka purse which is a wallet-like section of the app. Instead of storing your credit or debit card details and charging you from your bank account, the plentywaka purse gets funded by you and you are charged from the purse for your rides.
- Better check-in and checkout processes. Getting on and off the right bus have been made a little more fool-proof with the improved barcode generation technique. A barcode is generated at each booking and this is scanned by the Vehicle Assistant(VA) to check you into the bus.
Also, at the point of alighting the bus, a generated barcode is scanned and the money is deducted from the plentywaka purse.
This improvement protects both the riders and plentywaka from scams.
IT News Nigeria gathered that the need to get more buses on the road and travel more routes has plentywaka announcing the need for partners in what is called the Plentywaka Vehicle Partnership.
The partnership will get more buses on the road via two options:
– The partners bring buses which meet the plenty waka standard and get 70% of the revenue generated leaving plentywaka with 30%.
– The partners work with a finance leasing company to get a bus, after paying 30% equity for the buses. Using this option, plentywaka gets 30% of generated revenue while the rest of the income while be shared at a 70:30 ratio between the finance leasing company and the partner, respectively.
– This partnership will see more vehicles on the road and more routes by January 2020.
– Aside from the Plentywaka Vehicle Partnership which will boost the efficiency of the business, Johnny informs that the license to operate, which have been applied for, is in view. This will ensure smooth and hassle-free running in the future.
– He also shared that the fares would increase early next year as the present pricing was thus fixed to get more riders experience the service. He however assured that the pricing won’t fluctuate based on the presence or absence of traffic jams
Furthermore, the version 2.0 app comes with add-ons. For example, the ride itself calms the nerve enough to soothe the riders to sleep through the apparently inevitable traffic jams across the road of Lagos. The app, however, wakes the rider by alerting that the point of indicated destination is close.
The Pilots and the assistant periodic 8-hour shifts and plentywaka team are open to feedback as a way to improve user’s experience both on the app and on the ride.
