MyCoPilot enters Nigeria’s ride-sharing market, targets local car owners

MyCoPilot, a digital ride-sharing service designed to provide local travellers with much better travel options in Nigeria, covering more than 6 major cities has been launched in Lagos state.

According to the company, users can freely book a seat with a private vehicle owner headed their way on a fixed date and pay a fare price for a luxurious, more private, and interesting journey while private vehicle owners (drivers) can premise their travel plans and have people pay to join them on their journey.

Nnamdi JE Chizoba, founder and CEO, MyCoPilot. Said the app’s Private Ride-Sharing model for long-distance trips provides room for users to enjoy the best travel experiences, pay fair prices, and earn reasonable sums as a traveling car owner, something that wasn’t in existence until now.

MyCoPilot allows passengers to select who they want to travel with based on their chosen destination and preferred route. Drivers who receive notice of trip-share requests have two choices – accept the request or decline with good reason.

“Until today, logistics services in Nigeria did not leave much choice for residents when it came to the flexibility of travel. Users were only offered to agree to any vehicle presented to them by transport companies with fare prices fluctuating at the will of such service providers. MyCoPilot came to change this situation among other offerings. We want long-distance commuters and private car owners to independently and directly determine their travel experiences at favorable prices for each trip. As of today, residents of Lagos, Asaba, Anambra, Ogun, and Benin using MyCoPilot, will be able to travel more luxuriously and privately, and the cost of travel can be significantly lower,” Chizoba said.

Lagos is the first city in Nigeria where MyCoPilot was launched but the service cuts across Abeokuta, Asaba, Warri, Onitsha, and Awka. MyCoPilot has already connected more than 100 private car owners in Lagos, and dozens of new vehicle owners are still being onboarded.

A unique feature of MyCoPilot is that drivers are not automatically assigned to passengers. Users decide who to travel with and if an offer is turned down, passengers can easily select the most suitable driver headed to their destination on the route and other criteria most important to them – driver rating, date of departure, or vehicle model.

The digital ride-sharing service makes traveling safer with people verification, live location tracking with their GPS feature, and real-time ride details sharing from the app with trusted contacts.

Users can travel with MyCoPilot to and from these locations upon launch; Lagos to Benin, Abeokuta, Benin, Asaba, Warri, Onitsha, and Awka.

Currently, one can only pay for trips through credit cards and bank transfers, which allows for seamless and transparent transactions of each trip. For a start, MyCoPilot has begun working in Lagos in test mode to collect the first feedback.

MyCoPilot’s model enables users to enjoy an average of 20 to 30 percent more convenience, privacy, and luxury than with other services and earn reasonable income where users normally only incurred expenses.

For example, for a ride from Lagos to Asaba, users can pay only between N10,000 to N12,000; get picked up and dropped off at convenient spots, enjoy networking with verified people, enjoy different travel experiences, and earn extra as a long-distance traveler.