Bolt has rolled out a new safety feature in South Africa that requires riders to verify their identity by taking a selfie before certain trips. The system activates in specific scenarios: • Late-night rides - Any trip requested between 10pm and 5am • Cash payment trips - When the payment method is set to cash • After multiple cancellations - If a rider has cancelled several trips in a short period • New accounts - First-time riders on their initial trips The selfie is compared against the profile photo on the rider's account using facial recognition technology. If the faces don't match, the ride request is blocked until the rider verifies their identity through Bolt's support team.

The primary motivation is driver safety. Drivers have reported a rise in incidents where fraudulent accounts are used to request rides - often for robberies, hijackings, or fare evasion. By verifying the rider's identity at the point of booking, Bolt creates a traceable link between the person in the vehicle and a verified account. For cash trips specifically, the risk is higher because there's no digital payment trail. The selfie creates an identity record even when no card is on file. In the event of an incident, this gives law enforcement a verified photo of the person who was in the vehicle.

Bolt states that selfie data is processed in compliance with POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act). According to their privacy policy: • Selfies are encrypted in transit and at rest • Facial recognition processing happens in real-time and selfies are not stored long-term for non-flagged trips • Riders can request deletion of their biometric data through Bolt's data request process • The feature can't be opted out of when triggered - it's a condition of using the service in those scenarios If you're uncomfortable with facial recognition, your alternative is to book during off-peak hours using card payment, which typically doesn't trigger the verification.

While this feature primarily protects drivers, it has a knock-on benefit for passengers too. A platform that verifies rider identities is a platform that takes safety seriously across the board. It also means fewer fraudulent accounts in the ecosystem, which reduces the overall risk for everyone. Combined with driver verification on the other side (background checks, selfie verification for drivers, vehicle inspections), both parties in a ride now have some level of identity assurance. Use RydeSafe alongside these platform features to add a community-driven layer of verification before every trip.