Terms of Use

01About these terms

Route is operated by Flex Mobility Limited, a company registered in Nigeria with its office at 5 Bujumbura Street, Wuse 2, Abuja (“Route”, “we”, “us”). Route provides the Route User app for riders, the Route Driver app for drivers, and the websites that support them.

Route is a technology platform. It connects people who need a ride with independent drivers who provide transport. Drivers are not our employees. Where Route supplies a vehicle through rental or Drive-to-Own, the separate agreement you sign in the app also applies, and it takes priority if the two conflict.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal data and forms part of these terms.

02Who can use Route

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract.
• Riders and drivers must verify their identity with their National Identification Number (NIN) and a live selfie before booking or driving.
• Drivers must hold a valid licence that allows commercial driving, and the permits required in their city, such as the FCT driver certification card in Abuja or the LASDRI card in Lagos, or the equivalent in Kaduna and Kano.
• Route is available in the cities where we have launched. We may limit features in some areas.

A rider who books for someone else is responsible for that trip, including payment and the passenger’s conduct.

03Your account

You sign in with your phone number and a one-time code. Your legal name comes from your NIN record and can’t be edited in the app. Keep your phone and codes secure; you are responsible for activity on your account.

One person, one account. You may not share, sell or transfer your account. Drivers confirm their identity with a selfie at the start of every shift so that accounts can’t be shared.

You must give us accurate information and keep it up to date. We may ask you to re-verify your identity, for example when you sign in on a new device.

04The Route wallet

Each verified rider and driver gets a wallet with its own bank account number from our licensed payment partner. You add money by bank transfer. Route covers the partner’s incoming transfer fee, so the full amount you send is credited.

• Riders: the wallet is the only way to pay for trips. Money paid in can be spent on trips and fees but can’t be withdrawn, except when you close your account (section 14).
• Drivers: fares are credited to your wallet. You can withdraw to a bank account in your own NIN name at any time, subject to a minimum. A payout fee of ₦50 is deducted from each withdrawal and shown before you confirm.
• If a final fare is more than the amount held, the difference comes from your balance. If your balance is short, your wallet may go negative and must be cleared before your next booking.

05Fares and fees

Before you confirm a trip, we show the route, distance, estimated time, fare estimate and Route’s service fee. When you book, the estimate plus a buffer (currently 25%) is held in your wallet.

• The final fare is worked out from the actual distance and time of the trip and may be higher or lower than the estimate. Any unused hold is released.
• There is no surge pricing and no pickup fee. A fixed night charge (currently 5%) applies to trips that start between 10pm and 5am.
• Electric and petrol or diesel vehicles have separate rates. If you choose “Any”, you see a price range and pay the rate of the vehicle assigned.
• A service fee applies to trips booked in the app. Street pickups by QR code carry a flat Route base fee instead.
• Scheduled and recurring trips may carry discounts, shown before you confirm.

Current rates, fees and discounts are shown in the app and may change. Each trip uses the rates in force when it was booked.

06Bookings and cancellations

Your request goes to the nearest available drivers. The first to accept gets the trip. If nobody accepts within the search time, the hold is released.

• Trip PIN: an app-booked trip starts only when the driver enters your 4-digit trip PIN. Never share it before you are in the right vehicle.
• Rider cancellations: cancelling is free within a short window after a driver accepts. After that, a cancellation fee applies and is paid in full to the driver.
• Scheduled trips: free to cancel until 1 hour before pickup. After that, a fee applies (currently ₦500), paid to the driver.
• No-shows: if the driver arrives and waits the set time and you don’t appear, the driver may end the trip and a no-show fee is charged.
• Driver cancellations: if a driver cancels after accepting, we look for another driver for you at no extra cost.

07Street pickups by QR code

You can scan a Route driver’s QR code, or type the vehicle’s plate, to request that driver directly. Before you continue, check that the photo, name, vehicle and plate in the app match the vehicle in front of you. If they don’t, do not get in, and report it to us.

Street pickups are tracked, paid and rated like any other trip. Only verified riders with a funded wallet can request one.

08Safety and conduct

Everyone on Route agrees to treat others with respect. You must not:

• harass, threaten, discriminate against or harm anyone;
• arrange trips or payments outside Route, or ask for or share phone numbers;
• carry illegal items, or ask a driver to break traffic laws;
• damage a vehicle, or leave it unsafe or unclean beyond normal use;
• use false identity documents, fake GPS, or tamper with the apps.

Both apps include an SOS button that alerts Route’s safety desk with your live location and trip details, and offers a one-tap call to the national emergency number. In an emergency, always contact the emergency services first.

Riders can share a live trip link with anyone. Trips can also be shared automatically with your emergency contacts during night hours you set.

09Messages and calls

Riders and drivers never see each other’s phone numbers. Messages go through Route’s WhatsApp line, which removes numbers, emails and links. Calls connect through Route, over the app or a proxy number, with both numbers hidden.

This channel is open from when a driver accepts until 30 minutes after the trip ends. We keep relayed messages and call logs (who called, when and for how long) for safety and disputes. We do not record calls. See our Privacy Policy.

10Terms for drivers

Approval and documents

To drive, you must be approved by Route after we review your NIN, selfie, licence, vehicle documents and any city permits. Keep documents valid. When a document expires, new trip requests pause until a renewed one is approved.

Plans and fares

Drivers on their own vehicle pay a flat plan (daily, weekly or monthly) from their driver wallet, and keep 100% of every fare, cancellation fee and no-show fee. An active plan is needed to go online. Plans renew automatically unless you turn renewal off. A trip in progress always finishes, even if your plan expires during it.

Accepting and completing trips

• You may accept or decline requests. If you decline or ignore several in a row, requests pause until you resume.
• Once you accept, head to the pickup promptly. Cancelling after accepting, or not moving in time, may count as a strike, except in genuine safety cases, which we review first.
• Start the trip only with the rider’s PIN (or confirmation, for a street pickup) and end it near the destination.
• Electric-vehicle drivers must declare their remaining range accurately; we won’t send trips longer than that range allows.

Drivers are independent and responsible for their own taxes and for complying with transport laws.

11Rent a Route EV

If you rent an electric car or keke from Route, you also sign a rental agreement in the app. Before handover you pay a refundable deposit of at least one week’s rent (₦385,000 for an EV car, ₦175,000 for an EV keke), and provide one guarantor who completes the Route Guarantor’s Form.

• Daily rent: Route takes 80% of each fare until it has collected the day’s rent: currently ₦55,000 a day for an EV car and ₦25,000 a day for an EV keke. After that, every fare that day is yours.
• The daily rent includes your driver plan and charging at Route or designated stations, under our fair-use policy (section 13).
• Route supplies and renews the vehicle’s papers, insurance and hackney permit.
• Each rental has a daily trip target shown in the app. A day with no trips counts as a missed day. Two missed days in a row, or charging a Route vehicle anywhere other than a Route or designated station, is a default.
• On default, Route may retrieve the vehicle. Rent already paid is not refunded. Your deposit is returned to your wallet once the vehicle is back, less only damage recorded against the handover photos and any recovery cost, shown to you in an itemised statement first.

Tracking device: a tracking device is fixed to every Route car and keke. It stays fitted for as long as Route owns the vehicle, including throughout Drive-to-Own until ownership transfers. It records the vehicle’s location and movement, and is used to locate the vehicle, confirm where it is charged, support safety and recover it on default. Removing, disabling or tampering with it is a default. A Route vehicle can only go online under its assigned driver’s account.

12Drive-to-Own

Drive-to-Own lets eligible drivers pay for a Route electric car or keke over time and become its owner. It is offered under a separate Drive-to-Own agreement signed in the app.

• Eligibility: you must usually have rented a Route EV for about a month with a steady record, and pass our checks, including licence history, background check or an equivalent driving record, a guarantor, and your city’s driver permit. Approval is at Route’s discretion.
• Payments: you choose to pay daily (6 days a week), weekly or monthly over 18 months. Each payment includes an instalment toward the vehicle plus your driver plan and charging under our fair-use policy. Amounts are confirmed in your agreement before you sign.
• Before handover: you pay a refundable deposit of 10% of the vehicle’s value (₦1,800,000 for an EV car, ₦700,000 for an EV keke) and an insurance payment of the same amount that covers the vehicle for 24 months. Both are paid by bank transfer to the account Route gives you after you sign.
• Deposit refund: your deposit is refunded when all payments are complete, less any unpaid amounts. If the agreement ends early, the balance is refunded after deductions.
• Two guarantors: you need two guarantors, each completing the Route Guarantor’s Form. They guarantee your payments and the vehicle’s return jointly and severally, and either may be asked to pay what you owe if you don’t.
• Fares: you keep 100% of every fare. Payments are taken from your driver wallet on the schedule you chose.
• Tracking: the vehicle’s tracking device stays fitted until ownership transfers.
• Missed payments and default: your agreement sets out what counts as a missed payment, any grace period, and when the vehicle may be retrieved. If a vehicle is retrieved, the deposit rules in section 11 apply.
• Ownership: when your balance reaches zero, Route starts the transfer and the vehicle’s papers move into your name.

The vehicle remains Route’s property until it is fully paid for and transferred. You must not sell, lend, sublet or modify it before then.

13Charging and fair use

Where charging is included in your rent or Drive-to-Own payments, it covers charging at Route and designated stations for the vehicle Route supplied to you, used for driving on Route.

• Charging is for that vehicle only. It can’t be used for other vehicles or resold.
• Usage well above what your trips on Route would need may be reviewed. We will talk to you first, and may ask you to cover the extra cost.
• The current fair-use limits and station locations are shown in the Route Driver app.

14Ratings, suspension and closure

Riders and drivers rate each other after each trip. Low ratings, repeated strikes, safety reports, fraud, or breaking these terms may lead to a warning, a pause on requests, suspension, or removal from Route. Where safety allows, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond.

You can delete your account from the app’s settings. Deletion waits while a trip is active or booked, money is owed or left in the wallet, a payout is pending, or a claim is open; the app tells you what’s in the way. Any wallet balance is refunded first, to a bank account in your own NIN name. We keep trip records, receipts and safety reports as the law requires.

15Our responsibility to you

We work hard to keep Route safe and available, but we can’t promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. Maps, estimated times and fare estimates are estimates.

To the extent the law allows, Route is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for losses caused by events outside our reasonable control. Our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the fees you paid to Route in the three months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Nigerian law, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or your rights under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act.

16Changes, law and disputes

We may update these terms as Route changes or the law requires. For significant changes, we will tell you in the app or by WhatsApp before they take effect. If you keep using Route after that, the new terms apply.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If you have a complaint, contact us first; most issues are resolved through in-app support. If we can’t resolve a dispute within 30 days, either of us may refer it to mediation in Abuja, and failing that, to the courts of the Federal Capital Territory.

17Contact us

For help with a trip, use Help in the app. For anything else: