E-hailer Bolt South Africa is introducing a trusted contacts feature on its platform, to enable passengers and drivers to add names and phone numbers of friends or relatives to a list of contacts for their account.
According to a statement, this will allow Bolt’s safety team to get in touch with the account-holder during an emergency.
It will ensure quicker escalation of ride check notifications, emergency assist requests or any other significant safety incident reported if the safety team can’t get a hold of the account-holder, it says.
Lerato Motsoeneng, senior GM of Bolt South Africa, says: “It’s part of our ongoing investment in safety through new products, features and our dedicated in-house specially trained safety team, to ensure we can continue to improve the safety ecosystem of the Bolt app, offering drivers and riders a high-quality ride-hailing experience.”
This is the latest safety feature announced by Bolt as part of its €100 million commitment over three years, joining a suite of other safety features in its in-app safety toolkit.
Recently introduced passenger safety features on the Bolt app include ride check, to proactively detect whether there’s anything out of the ordinary during a trip; share location for real-time location sharing with friends and family; and emergency assist to help riders quickly and discreetly alert emergency services or private security partners.
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