ORide, a bike-hailing service operated by OPay, has confirmed the sale of a portion of its 200cc motorcycles. This development follows the February ban on passenger motorcycles in key areas of Lagos, signaling a shift in the company’s operational focus.
While ORide’s bike-hailing services remain active in locations like Ibadan, the company is transitioning its Lagos operations to logistics. The restructured service, branded as OExpress, will use the retained motorbikes for delivery purposes, with only a fraction of the inventory being sold. This move aligns ORide with other bike-hailing firms like Gokada and MAX, which have also ventured into logistics.
“As part of our entry into the delivery sector, we are selling a small portion of our motorbike fleet,” said Moses Awolowo, Director of Operations and Business Development at OExpress.
Both ORide and OExpress are managed by Many Wheels Services, a subsidiary of OPay. By housing its transportation verticals—including ORide, OCar, and the now-defunct OBus—under a separate entity, OPay retains its core identity as a financial services provider, avoiding the need for frequent corporate restructuring to accommodate new ventures.
Reports of bike sales initially surfaced on social media, with users noting prices starting at ₦180,000 per bike. Although the company did not confirm these reports at the time, sources have since revealed that bikes have been sold at prices ranging from ₦180,000 to ₦270,000, depending on their usage.
An insider disclosed that ORide has an inventory of approximately 8,000 motorcycles, although this figure could not be independently verified. The plan is to sell off about half of these bikes and deploy the rest for OExpress deliveries.
Awolowo emphasized that the company’s current fleet is more than sufficient for its logistics operations. “It’s practical to sell the surplus bikes we don’t need,” he said.
Reports from the warehouse indicate strong demand for the bikes, with individuals and logistics companies purchasing them rapidly. This increased activity could heighten competition within the logistics sector as more operators expand their fleets.
