The Edo State Government has revealed plans to introduce API integration for ride-sharing service providers like Bolt, Uber, and other operators in the state.
Edugie Agbonlahor, the Managing Director of the Edo State Transport Authority (ESTA), announced the development at the recently concluded driver safety summit hosted in the state capital by Bolt, one of the e-hailing companies.
According to Agbonlahor, this will be part of the Obaseki-led government’s overall strategy to implement much-needed e-hailing regulations in the state.
She stated that the ESTA has already drafted the regulation, which will take effect once approved. While it is unclear how the API integration will work or its purpose, it is expected to improve the state’s e-hailing environment.
“It would serve as the regulatory framework governing the ride-hailing ecosystem to promote orderliness, eradicate the misconception that ride-hailing drivers are traditional car hire, and curb harassment by local government task forces,” Agbonlahor assured.
In addition to API integration for these platforms, the government-backed regulator will provide visual identifiers to drivers on these e-hailing platforms as part of measures to exempt them from daily ticketing implemented for other drivers across the state.
The ESTA expects the identifiers to facilitate smoother interactions between the state authorities and ride-sharing drivers and foster necessary collaborative efforts among all industry stakeholders to ensure improved safety and sustainability of ride-hailing operations.
Following this development, Edo won’t be the first state in the country to announce such transportation regulations. In 2020, the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, led by the previous Commissioner Frederic Oladeinde, announced a data-sharing agreement with the state’s ride-hailing companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, real-time access to user trips and location data through the state-provided backend API integration had to be shared by all e-sharing platforms operating in Lagos State.
