When last did you take a Tap&Go ride?

So while on my way to work I came across a Kose billboard advertising their ride-hailing services. I remember asking myself how they were going to compete with other platforms already in the market like Indrive, Tap&Go and Bolt. Just when I was in the middle of a brainstorm I came to a realization, it had been a long time since I had seen a Tap&Go car around.

I remember last year when they officially launched, they had very attractive offers that were threatening to their competitors. These included a free starlink wifi access during your ride and a very generous discount system. A lot of people were going crazy over the platform and the marketing was just top-tier. I honestly thought it was game over for InDrive and it was time for them to pack it up.

Now that some time has passed ,it looks like InDrive is doing just fine and is still leading the market.

My reasoning behind this is people have already familiarized themselves with InDrive since their launch in Zim back in March of 2023.This gave them an advantage of a 2 year headstart which helped them better understand the space and optimize their app to meet the needs of Zimbabwean customers.

A poll in our community made it clear that the majority of people still rely on InDrive on a day to day basis with just a few showing their commitment to Tap&Go. Some even highlighted the fact that InDrive simply has better marketing compared to Tap&Go. Shockingly Bolt even had a comfortable vote lead against Tap&Go even though Bolt’s presence and marketing at times may feel underwhelming.

Another reason that could also explain the slow start of Tap&Go is their different business model.Unlike their competitors Tap&Go operates more like a taxi company that has an app while other platforms focus more on connecting independent drivers with riders.This means Tap&Go own all of the cars their drivers use. They officially launched with a total of 60 cars and meeting the high demands of transport with just 60 cars in the busiest city of the country can become very hard and make them look unreliable. Not to mention they also operate in Bulawayo. Meanwhile their competitors had already recruited a very large number of drivers without having to own a single car making it easier for them to meet a very high demand of transport.

A look inside their pricing model can also be explanatory to their current situation.Zimbabweans love negotiating the price down.Unfortunately, Tap&Go only has a fixed pricing model, so if you’re even 50 cents short of the price shown, it’s basically game over . This also affects the drivers who at times may think that the ride must cost a little more than the recommended price and may feel like they are being taken advantage of.

In all fairness Tap&Go falling short to platforms like InDrive and Bolt can also be attributed to its competition’s very strong global reputation. In fact, according to InDrive on their own blog they reported that they were the second most downloaded ride hailing app globally from 2022 to 2026. To be honest it really takes some work to beat that.

So after all has been said and done just last week after the Kose billboard incident I did see about 2 of Tap & Go cars driving around. That’s still a lot less activity from them compared to what they are actually capable of achieving especially with the aggressive rise of the ride-hailing platforms over the recent years.So do you think Tap&Go still has a chance to claim the number 1 spot?

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