1. Who we are
CoTrip is a South African community ride-sharing service. In this policy, “CoTrip”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the team responsible for the CoTrip website, mobile apps and related services. CoTrip is the responsible party for the personal information described here.
Questions and privacy requests can be sent to info@cotrip.co.za.
2. Where this policy applies
This policy applies when you use the CoTrip website, mobile apps, application programming interfaces, support channels and trip-related services.
3. Information we collect
Depending on how you use CoTrip, we may collect:
- Account and profile information, such as your name, email address, phone number, profile photo, occupation, workplace, biography and interests.
- Identity and eligibility information, including identity-verification details and results. Drivers may also provide licence, vehicle, insurance or other eligibility information.
- Vehicle information, such as the make, model, colour, registration number, photos, available seats, luggage space and vehicle rules.
- Trip information, including the areas you are leaving from and going to, dates, times, route preferences, luggage, offers, matches, bookings, pickup information, cancellations and trip status.
- Safety and reliability information, such as reports, reviews, emergency contacts, no-show records, pickup confirmation and information supplied during a dispute or safety review.
- Payment information, such as transaction references, payment status, refunds and payouts. Card and bank payment details are handled by our payment provider; CoTrip does not need to store your full card number.
- Location information, including places you enter, route coordinates and, when you allow it, device location used for a trip or safety feature.
- Messages and support information, including messages sent through CoTrip and information you provide when asking for help.
- Device and usage information, such as device type, app version, push-notification token, IP address, technical logs, feature use, crash data and diagnostic information.
4. How we receive information
Most information comes directly from you. We may also receive information from your device when you grant permission, from another person involved in a trip or report, and from providers that help us with identity checks, payments, maps, notifications, storage, analytics and technical monitoring.
5. Why we use your information
We use personal information to:
- create and protect your account;
- find people travelling in the same direction and show suitable trips;
- manage offers, bookings, payments, refunds and driver payouts;
- verify participants and vehicles, confirm pickups and respond to safety concerns;
- send trip, account, payment and safety updates;
- provide support, handle complaints and resolve disputes;
- prevent fraud, misuse and unsafe conduct;
- understand and improve how CoTrip performs; and
- meet our legal, accounting and regulatory duties.
We process information where it is needed to provide the service you asked for, where you have given consent, where the law requires it, or where we have a legitimate interest such as keeping CoTrip secure, preventing fraud and improving the service. You may withdraw consent for optional processing at any time.
6. What other people can see
People searching for a trip may see limited profile, verification and general route information needed to decide whether a trip may suit them. We do not publicly show your exact home address, contact details, identity documents, emergency-contact details or full payment information.
Once people agree to travel together, we may show them the profile, vehicle and pickup details reasonably needed to identify one another and complete the trip safely. Drivers’ identity documents and licence records are not displayed publicly.
7. When information is disclosed
We do not sell or rent personal information, share it with advertisers, or disclose it for unrelated purposes. We may disclose only the information needed:
- to the driver or passenger you are considering or have agreed to travel with;
- to providers working for us on payments, identity checks, maps, hosting, file storage, notifications, analytics, support and technical monitoring;
- to an emergency contact when a safety feature requires it;
- to professional advisers where confidentiality applies; or
- to courts, regulators, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where the law requires it or where it is reasonably necessary to protect someone’s rights or safety.
Providers may use personal information only to perform the service we asked them to provide and must protect it appropriately.
8. Information processed outside South Africa
Some technology providers may process or store information outside South Africa. Where this happens, we require an appropriate level of protection through applicable law, contractual safeguards or another lawful basis allowed by the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”).
9. How long we keep information
We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purposes in this policy. Account information is normally kept while your account is active. After a deletion request, we delete or de-identify information that is no longer needed.
Some transaction, payment, dispute, fraud-prevention, safety or legal records may need to be kept for longer where the law requires it, a claim may still be made, or the record is needed to protect CoTrip or another person. We restrict the use of retained information to those reasons.
10. How we protect information
We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration and disclosure. These include access controls, secure communications, controlled staff and provider access, monitoring and review of safety-sensitive activity.
No digital service can promise that a security incident will never happen. If a reportable incident occurs, we will follow POPIA and notify the Information Regulator and affected people where required.
11. Your choices and rights
Subject to POPIA, you may ask us to:
- confirm whether we hold personal information about you and provide access to it;
- correct or update information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- delete or destroy information that we are no longer authorised to keep;
- object to certain processing;
- withdraw consent for optional processing; and
- stop direct-marketing messages.
Use our Delete my information page or email info@cotrip.co.za. We may need to verify that the information belongs to you before acting. We will never ask for your password in a deletion request.
12. Children
CoTrip is for people aged 18 or older. We do not knowingly allow children to create accounts. If you believe a child has provided personal information, please contact us so that we can investigate and remove it where appropriate.
13. Website storage, analytics and diagnostics
The website may use essential browser storage to remember choices such as light or dark mode and may keep basic technical logs needed for security and reliability. The app may use analytics and diagnostic tools to understand feature use and fix problems. We do not use advertising cookies or share activity with advertisers.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when CoTrip, the law or our providers change. We will publish the updated policy here, change the effective date and give additional notice in the app where a change materially affects your rights.
15. Contact and complaints
Contact us first at info@cotrip.co.za so that we can help. You also have the right to complain to South Africa’s Information Regulator.