The online marketplace ticketing system, QuickBus, is expanding its reach across Africa with its
operational launch in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. The startup has a presence in Kenya,
Angola, South Africa, and Uganda, and is now the most popular site for booking buses in Africa.
The online marketplace ticketing system, QuickBus, is expanding its reach across Africa with its
operational launch in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. The startup has a presence in Kenya,
Angola, South Africa, and Uganda, and is now the most popular site for booking buses in Africa.
Their solution is vital on a continent where most of the population travel by road. Nigeria’s busiest
airport only recorded 4.25 million domestic travellers in 2018 – less than 5% of the population,
emphasizing the popularity of road travel. Despite this, travelling across Nigerian states by road is
primarily a manual process. Young men at bus parks in popular cities like Lagos and Aba try to
convince passengers to choose one transport company or the other, with passengers needing to
decide on the spot. It’s a stressful process for customers and leaves transport companies without
essential data points to offer better experiences.
QuickBus has interesting fixes to many of these problems. It offers a ticketing service that lets
customers buy tickets, book seats online, and with options for different Operators in the space, so
passengers can choose which works best for them. When you book a trip on QuickBus, you will
soon get the added benefit of sharing your trip with your loved ones. This way, they can track your
bus in real-time while you travel, providing that extra layer of peace of mind that’s hard to put money
on.
While a few transport companies now have websites that allow customers to book seats, it remains
a tricky experience. It’s common for customers to book seats online and arrive at the bus terminal on
their travel date only to be told that their seats have been taken. It feels like these companies have
tacked on online booking only as afterthoughts. They don’t consider digital integration as part of the
customer experience, and this is one problem QuickBus is going to solve, by providing booking
channels such as USSD, WhatsApp, and Agency Banking.
While many of QuickBus’ solutions translate into big wins for customers, ignoring the startup’s
potential to impact the transport business is hard. In Nigeria, the transportation business is tricky,
with many transporters closing operations in under three years. Finding customers, ensuring a great
user experience, preventing theft, and staying competitive are challenging responsibilities to juggle.
Many operators know that the transport business, which is still primarily analogue, needs to change,
and QuickBus provides these operators with a route to ensure they get business intelligence from
their operations, which adds value to their business.
According to Olumide Akinsola, the company’s Group VP of Growth and Marketing, “Our goal is to
get Africans moving from City to City by road in a way that’s stress-free, efficient, and enjoyable.
This can’t happen without transport operators moving from their current informal setup to a point
where they scale with intelligent business solutions. It’s not just a promise; it’s the new reality for our
customers in Kenya, Angola, Uganda, Zambia, and our other locations.”
