If you drive for Bolt in Dar es Salaam and you are still filling up with petrol, this article will show you — with real numbers, real prices, and real driver experiences — exactly how much money is leaving your pocket every single month that does not have to.
The problem every Bolt driver in Dar es Salaam knows
You accept a ride. You drive across town. Bolt takes its commission. Then you stop for fuel. And after all of that, you sit and wonder whether today was actually worth it.
Fuel is the silent destroyer of ride-hailing income in Tanzania. It does not announce itself. It just quietly consumes 30,000, 32,000, sometimes 35,000 shillings of your daily earnings before you have made a single shilling of actual profit.
According to EWURA’s November 2025 price cap data, petrol in Dar es Salaam retails at 2,752 shillings per litre Ewura — and that is the regulated ceiling price. A typical Bolt vehicle with a 40-litre tank burns through that tank fast across a full day of city driving, particularly with Dar es Salaam’s traffic patterns. Most experienced Bolt drivers report spending between 28,000 and 35,000 shillings on petrol per working day.
That is not a trivial number. For context, after Bolt’s commission of approximately 24%, a driver earning 100,000 shillings in fares takes home around 76,000 shillings. Remove 32,000 shillings in petrol and you are left with 44,000 shillings before any maintenance, data, or other costs. For a 10-to-12-hour working day, that is an unsustainable margin.
Compressed Natural Gas — CNG — changes that calculation entirely.
What CNG actually costs in Dar es Salaam
An 11-kilogram tank of CNG costs around 15,000 shillings and can power a bajaji for up to 180 kilometres Africa.com — and for four-wheeled vehicles operating on converted dual-fuel systems, the economics are similarly compelling.
Bolt driver Amri Mkiwa told journalists that since switching to CNG, he spends 15,000 shillings to fill up with gas, compared to 30,000 to 35,000 shillings he previously spent on petrol. Africa Press
That is a daily saving of between 15,000 and 20,000 shillings. Every single day.
Another Bolt driver, Elias Mruma, was even more direct about the impact: on the highest end, he spends up to 17,500 shillings to fill up with gas, enabling him to make at least 70,000 shillings per day while using the Bolt platform — and he reported that CNG helps reduce expenses by up to 75 percent. Africa Press
These are not marketing claims. These are drivers talking to journalists about their actual working lives.
The monthly numbers — laid out clearly
Let us build a realistic monthly comparison for a Bolt driver working 26 days per month in Dar es Salaam.
On petrol
| Item | Daily | Monthly (26 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel cost | 32,000 TZS | 832,000 TZS |
| Gross fares | 100,000 TZS | 2,600,000 TZS |
| After Bolt commission (24%) | 76,000 TZS | 1,976,000 TZS |
| After fuel | 44,000 TZS | 1,144,000 TZS |
On CNG at Green Gas CNG, Mbezi
| Item | Daily | Monthly (26 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel cost | 14,000 TZS | 364,000 TZS |
| Gross fares | 100,000 TZS | 2,600,000 TZS |
| After Bolt commission (24%) | 76,000 TZS | 1,976,000 TZS |
| After fuel | 62,000 TZS | 1,612,000 TZS |
Monthly difference: 468,000 TZS — straight back into your pocket.
That is not a small number. That is nearly half a million shillings a month. Over a full year, it is approximately 5,616,000 shillings — money that currently disappears into the petrol tank and provides you absolutely nothing in return except the ability to keep driving.
What about the conversion cost?
This is the question every driver asks first, and it deserves a complete, honest answer.
Before your vehicle can run on CNG, it needs a one-time conversion kit installed by a certified garage. Although converting a vehicle can cost as much as 1 million shillings, many drivers recover this investment within months through fuel savings. Africa.com Private garages in Dar es Salaam have responded to growing demand, with some — like NK CNG AUTO LTD — offering instalment plans to make conversions more accessible.
At a monthly saving of 468,000 shillings, a driver who spends 900,000 shillings on conversion recovers that cost in under two months. After that, every month is pure additional income.
An academic study published in the MDPI journal on CNG implementation in Tanzania found that gasoline retrofitted natural gas vehicles cost about 50 to 200 TZS per kilometre to operate, yielding a fuel cost saving of up to 79 percent and starting to pay off between 2 and 7 months, depending on engine capacity. MDPI
Two to seven months. For a decision that then pays dividends for the entire life of your vehicle.
It is also worth noting that in the 2023/24 budget, the government introduced incentives to stimulate CNG demand, including a 25 percent customs duty exemption for imported CNG vehicle engines The Citizen — a policy specifically designed to lower conversion costs for Tanzanian drivers.
What this means for your actual earnings
Bolt Country Manager Remmy Eseka confirmed that through Bolt’s Green Plan, drivers on the platform who use CNG have seen their costs reduced significantly, allowing them to grow their earnings and protect the environment. Africa Press
The mechanism is straightforward. Your fares do not increase when you switch fuels. But your costs drop dramatically. That margin expansion flows directly into your take-home pay without you having to drive a single extra kilometre.
Zawadi Kayaula, a Dar es Salaam driver whose daily fuel costs dropped from 25,000 shillings to just 10,000 shillings after converting to CNG, said: “Now I can save more, and taking care of my family has become easier — I even get to have dinner with them, something I couldn’t do before.” Africa.com
This is not an abstract financial calculation. It is the difference between working 12 hours and working 8. It is the difference between covering your costs and building something.
The infrastructure is here — and it is in Mbezi
One of the previous barriers to CNG adoption in Dar es Salaam was limited station availability. That barrier has been dramatically reduced. As of April 2025, a total of nine CNG stations are operational in Tanzania, up from just two in 2020. Thechanzo
Green Gas CNG is located in Mbezi — serving drivers operating across the western and northern corridors of Dar es Salaam, including Kimara, Kibamba, Tegeta, and Africana. We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No appointment. No long queues. Drive in, fill up, drive out.
The straightforward decision
If you are a Bolt driver in Dar es Salaam earning an income from your vehicle, the switch to CNG is one of the most financially consequential decisions you will make this year. The conversion cost is real. The payback is fast. The ongoing savings are permanent.
Every day you wait is another 15,000 to 20,000 shillings you do not have to spend on petrol — but do anyway.
Green Gas CNG is open right now in Mbezi. Come in, ask any question you have, and see what the numbers look like for your specific vehicle. No pressure. Just the facts.
