Two drivers, one car: running day and night shifts on Uber and Bolt

A car with one driver sits parked for half of every day. Putting a second driver on the night shift puts it to work. It also doubles the people you have to manage, and splits responsibility for the car between them. Here is how owners make it work.

The rules that make two shifts sensible

Two limits mean one driver should not be working the car round the clock anyway:

• Uber's limit. A driver can carry passengers for up to 12 hours of driving time. After that they must be offline for 6 hours in a row before driving again. Waiting for a trip while online does not count towards the 12 hours.
• The law. Section 66A of the Traffic Act says no one may drive a public service vehicle for more than eight hours in any 24. A first conviction carries a fine of up to KSh 50,000 or up to 12 months in prison.

Two drivers on two shifts let the car work longer hours while each driver stays within those limits.

Each driver needs their own account

This is the rule that matters most. Never let two people drive on one account. Uber's terms do not allow driver accounts to be shared. If a driver does not match the profile shown to the rider, Uber suspends the account immediately while it investigates, and confirmed cases are removed from the platform.

So each driver needs their own account, their own PSV badge and good conduct certificate, and the car approved for each account:

• Uber: on a fleet account, the owner adds the car in FleetHub (fleethub.uber.com, formerly Supplier Portal) and assigns it to drivers under Vehicle assignments.
• Bolt: fleet owners add drivers in the Fleet Portal using the Park section, which is for drivers who will drive cars that belong to you. If the car is already registered, the driver asks Bolt support to link it to their account. Bolt warns that driving a vehicle not approved on your account can get the account suspended.

Before you start, confirm with each platform's support that the car can be approved on both drivers' accounts. Have each driver go online only during their own shift. See how fleet accounts work.

Insurance: tell the insurer there are two drivers

The car needs PSV cover whoever is driving — see the PSV insurance guide. With two drivers, also:

• ask the insurer, in writing, whether the policy covers any authorised licensed driver or only drivers named on it
• if it names drivers, have both added before the second driver starts
• give the insurer both drivers' licence and PSV badge details

A claim after a night-shift accident is the wrong moment to find out the night driver was never covered.

Splitting the daily amount

There is no standard split. Base it on what each shift earns, not on hours alone. As an example, a car with a daily amount of KSh 2,400 across both shifts could be split:

Agree the split in writing with each driver separately, so a short payment by one is not the other's problem. Each should pay for their own shift, the same evening or morning it ends. Check the total against your costs with the daily amount calculator.

The handover

Most disputes in a two-driver car start at the handover. Fix these in the agreement:

• Time and place. The same spot, the same time, every day. A late handover costs the other driver earnings.
• Fuel. Either "hand over at the level you received it" or "each driver fuels for their own shift". Pick one.
• Condition. A photo of each side and the dashboard (mileage and fuel) at every handover, sent to you. New damage then belongs to a shift.
• Fines and faults. Whoever was driving pays their own traffic fines. Each driver reports faults at handover.
• Rest and garage days. When the car is in the garage, neither driver owes for that day. Say so in the agreement.

The driver agreement generator gives you a printable starting point. Make one for each driver.

Where Gariboss helps

Gariboss tracks daily amounts per car, and rest and garage days are not counted as owed. Payments go into your own M-Pesa till and are matched automatically, and the driver can see a running balance. Every evening a WhatsApp report shows who has paid. On a two-driver car, use the report to check that the car's full amount came in each day.