The High Court has ordered ride-hailing and food delivery start-up Bolt to reinstate the six-seater Toyota Sienta model vehicles to its high-capacity service category known as XL.
The XL category is serviced by cars that carry up to seven passengers and is popular among large-group travellers.
High Court judge Chacha Mwita directed the company to return the six-seater carrying capacity cars to its service category popularly known as XL, pending the determination of a petition filed by 11 vehicle owners.
The vehicle owners led by Daniel Manga and Paul Wakaba, alleged that the Toyota Sienta vehicles, which had been granted the Bolt XL category since 2017 were removed from the XL category on February 5, despite meeting all the requirements for the segment.
Other vehicle models that have been categorised as Bolt XL include Honda Freed, Toyota Wish and Toyota Isis, Toyota Passo Sette, and Nissan Lafesta, all of which like the Sienta can carry six passengers.
“That in the meantime, a conservatory order is hereby issued restraining the Respondents from implementing the decision to remove Toyota Sienta vehicles from the Bolt XL category,” said the judge.
The judge directed the case to be heard on June 17.
The Toyota Sienta drivers alleged that until February 5, this year, the cars were all listed under at least two categories on the Bolt application – basic category or Bolt XL category – a category for vehicles with at least 6-seater capacity.
The vehicle owners told the court that revenues from the Bolt XL category are usually 50 percent to 100 percent higher than the revenue from the basic Bolt and Bolt economy category.
They said Bolt drivers using Toyota Sienta vehicles, were unexpectedly untagged from the Bolt XL category on February 5, 2025, despite meeting requirements for this category and having been listed in it since 2017.
“This abrupt change, communicated through automated and non-informative responses, has adversely affected the drivers' income and loan repayment plans,” the drivers said in the petition.
Their lawyer Mercy Mutemi said that the removal of the vehicles was unfair and discriminatory as it violates several constitutional rights, including the right to fair administrative action, non-discrimination, access to information, fair labour relations, consumer rights, and protection of the youth from exploitation.
“The petitioners are Bolt drivers who are duly registered on the Bolt platform. They draw their income from the ride-hailing business,” she said.
Ms Mutemi said for some of the petitioners, the only option on the menu was the basic Bolt category, which was automatically set by their application as the default category.
For others, she said, a new category had been introduced to the drop-down menu, Bolt Economy, which pays even less than the basic Bolt category.
She explained that the drivers’ options were either to list as the basic Bolt or Bolt Economy, both of which lead to reduced income when compared to Bolt XL.
They want the court to issue an order that the action by the Estonian-owned firm and Bolt Support KE Ltd of un-tagging the Toyota Sienta from the Bolt XL category amounted to discrimination.
They claimed that no formal communication had been issued to the drivers before the action was taken.
“Some petitioners were met with automated responses by chatbots, which did not give any information that would help them understand the un-tagging of their vehicles,” the drivers said.
They said the bots returned generic answers suggesting that if their vehicles had been removed from that category it may have been due to changes in the requirements for that category.
Some of the bots also suggested that it may be a problem with the specific driver’s application and the settings on their phone.
“The untagging of the Toyota Sienta vehicles without fair justification amounts to unfair administrative action by the 1st and 2nd respondents,” the petitioners stated.
