2021 in Retrospect - Lessons and Key Takeouts for 2022

2021 in Retrospect - Lessons and Key Takeouts for 2022

There is an African proverb that says: “one has to know where they are coming from to know where they are going.” So, permit us to indulge you in a retrospective view of 2021 at Shuttlers. Synonymous with every honest journey, 2021 had its ups and downs, and we will not trade any of our experiences for anything because they helped get us where we are today and will shape our future. 

Here’s a synopsis of 2021 in numbers:

Here’s a synopsis of 2021 in numbers:

– 786,945 trips taken by users

– 267,994 total bus trips

– 10,246 active users 

– 127 drivers 

– 134 vehicles 

– 29 routes 

– 2 cities: Lagos and Abuja 

– 365 active days

– 21 hours daily 

-7665 working hours

These numbers help us appreciate how far we have come and focus on the work ahead. 

As you may already know, one of the major highlights of the year was the raise of a 1.6m seed funding. The announcement threw us into the spotlight as we garnered lots of attention and goodwill messages – for this, we are monumentally grateful to our investors, customers, and the general public.

We have some key learnings from the year to share with you. Perhaps, you can imbibe them and leverage them in achieving your goals for the year. Many of these learnings we already knew, but their importance became more tangible to us during the past year.

Customers are Always Observing, and Will Share Their Verdict (Good Or Bad) in Due Time

More than ever before, in 2021, we got an avalanche of feedback from customers and observers across social platforms both locally and globally. It shows that customers never forget their experiences of brands; when they feel the need to, they will share these experiences. For us, being a customer-obsessed brand, we took the feedback seriously, and we have since been using them to improve our offerings. Below are some of our favourites:

Iteration Is The Name Of The Game – New App Features, City Expansion & Products

Every discerning brand in the tech space knows that they have to keep tweaking until utmost customer satisfaction is reached. 

In 2021, we added over 15 new features to the Shuttlers app. Some of the major ones are:

Google search autocomplete: A feature that makes searching for routes easier for users by completing their search before they type out the complete route name

Route catalogue: A list of all available routes displayed on the app to help customers pick their preferred routes.

Automated funding: This enables customers to easily fund their Shuttlers accounts from their mobile bank app in a few minutes

Direct to pick-up point: This helps provide direction to the users to where their shuttle will pick them from

Favourite route feature: This allows users to skip some of the booking steps by selecting their favourite routes- Vehicle tracking on the customer’s mobile App: Allows users to see the location and ETA of their vehicle

In 2021, we also had a soft launch in Abuja, which is our next focus market after Lagos. The soft launch was highly successful, and our services were well received, making us excited to launch operations in the coming weeks. 

We entered into some strategic partnerships in 2021 and birthed new fantastic people-focused transportation solutions that we plan to roll out in the coming months. The new products will cater to a more diverse spectrum of commuters, and we cannot wait to launch them to the general public. We are sure you will love them. So, watch this space!

Keep Your People Happy

There is a quote by Dan Gilbert that says: “There is no better joy than helping the people around you go to levels higher than they ever thought they could.” We reckon that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve all that we did in 2021 without the continuous support of our people – Shuttlers staff, drivers, bus partners, and stakeholders. Our people went over and beyond to achieve the goals for the year, despite the global pandemic. To celebrate the team spirit and get everyone charged up for the work ahead, we had activities like the Staff Retreat and Drivers Training. At the events, we got first-hand feedback on how to improve our business, and achieve our business goals. Go team Shuttlers!

So, How Did We End The Year?

We had a lineup of impactful CSR activities, event partnerships, and activations in the last months of the year. What a brilliant way to end a great year! Below are excerpts of the events:

Shuttlers Party On The Bus

This was an exciting end-of-the-year bus party, held aboard Shuttlers buses on different routes in the evening. We had lots of food, games, and gifts. Our customers were delighted!

Stay Cavy Concert

We were the official transport partner for the Stay Cavy Concert. We conveyed the talents to the venue aboard a luxurious Shuttlers bus, and they had a fun experience riding with Shuttlers. 

Chess Beyond Borders 4.0

We were privileged to support the organizers of the Chess Beyond Borders games with our buses to convey participants to the competition venue.

Shuttlers Gifting Train

This was an initiative to appreciate some essential workers. We ran an online poll, and LAWMA got voted as the preferred essential workers in Lagos. So, we headed out into the highways of Lagos and gifted as many LAWMA officials as we could find hampers.

Have an amazing 2022!

About Shuttlers   

Shuttlers is a Nigerian mobility company that’s tackling the transportation challenges in metropolitan cities, leveraging technology. Our mission is to transform the way people commute around the world, by building a global partner network and connecting communities of Shuttlers like we are presently doing in Lagos, Nigeria.

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