Lagos is a city of 23 million people and 90% of its transport system is road-based, with semi-formal mini buses or ‘danfos’ making up 45% of all transport. In 2015, the city accounted for 30% of the total number of road vehicles in Nigeria, with a vehicular density of 234 cars per kilometer. Although Lagos has several federal roads, its transport system is inefficient due to the poor nature of many of the roads and the lack of a formal or public transport system. Professionals typically commute to work using a personal car, public bus, Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) or cabs and have to contend with hectic traffic congestion, hustling to get onto a bus, standing in the BRT, or paying for a private cab – and they do this five days a week. The negative impact of this inefficiency affects commuters’ quality of life, mental health, finances and productivity. It also impacts the more vulnerable and neglected populations – women, children, physically challenged and the elderly. Olokesusi was confident that a smart mobility solution could solve some of these urban mobility challenges sustainably, create jobs and reduce carbon emissions.

When they launched in 2016, their model was messenger-based, using Slack, email, and WhatsApp to communicate routes and timelines to customers. One of their very first clients was Andela, who took advantage of the start-up’s B2B2C option to ferry workers across the state. In 2019, Shuttlers introduced their mobile app where customers could subscribe to a plan, which included a B2B where business companies paid the fares for their employees and B2C where individual customers paid their own fare.