Marginal-zero economics, in one breath.
Why a driver heading your way can rationally take you for less than a danfo. The single idea Tag Rides is built around.
Here is the whole idea in one breath: a driver who was already going from Yaba to Victoria Island is paying for that trip whether you are in the car or not. The marginal cost of adding you — fuel for a few extra kilos, a tiny detour at pickup, the time it takes to hand you a receipt — is near zero.
Any fare above zero is profit on a seat that would otherwise be empty.
What this means for the rider
It means the price floor on a Tag Rides Tag-Along trip is not "what does this car cost to run?" — that cost is already sunk. The floor is whatever the driver thinks is fair compensation for the inconvenience. For most Lagos commutes, that lands at or below public-transport prices.
You pay danfo money. You get a private car. Nobody is subsidising anyone.
What this means for the driver
It means the take-home from one commute is no longer just "I got to work." It's income from a trip you were already making. Pick up three riders on a 14 km route from Yaba to Lekki, agree fair fares, and you've turned your morning into 6,000 - 8,000 naira on top of getting to your job.
The driver is not a contractor working for an algorithm. They're someone who decided to share their route, and got paid for it.
Why this is different from Uber and Bolt
Uber drivers don't have a route they were already making. The car was either already empty (drag on profit) or out for the day to drive for hire. The driver's opportunity cost is high. That is why ride-hail prices look the way they do — pure-play hire economics.
Tag-Along inverts that. The driver's opportunity cost is zero, because the trip was always going to happen. So the price clears at a completely different level.
Why this is different from danfo
Because every fare is logged before pickup. Because the driver passed an ID and vehicle check. Because both rider and driver build a reputation over time. Because you can share your live trip with a friend.
Same affordability. Real accountability.
That's the whole pitch.
— Posted on launch of the field notes. More coming on the elastic-matching design, the Lagos pilot plan, and what 210 riders told us before we shipped any code.