- Bolt stopped using digital advertising billboards mounted on the rooftops of some of its platform's vehicles in Cape Town after receiving a legal warning.
- Uber-branded vehicles have been mounted with similar billboards in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
- The provider of the boards argues that it is not in violation of national or local traffic and advertising rules.
- For more financial news, visit News24 Business.
Bolt made a quick U-turn on its decision to roll out digital billboards on some of its vehicles in Cape Town after being told it may be falling foul of national and local laws. This raises questions for Uber, which has rolled out similar billboards in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Earlier this week, Bolt – Uber’s biggest e-hailing competitor in South Africa – suspended the use of digital advertising billboards on its vehicles after the City of Cape Town issued a legal notice ordering it to stop using the boards immediately.
READ | Bolt forced to halt LED ads on cars after Cape threat
Cape Town deputy mayor Eddie Andrews said this form of advertising is prohibited by the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) and the City’s Outdoor Advertising By-law.
Graham Walker, senior operations manager for driver and fleet operations at Bolt South Africa, said the company was suspending use of the digital advertising boards pending engagement with the relevant regulatory authorities.
News24 has since learnt that some Uber-branded vehicles in Johannesburg and Pretoria have also recently been fitted with digital billboards on their roofs.
The billboards are provided by Rohm Media, which claims to be South Africa’s first cartop digital billboard network.
Rohm co-founder Oliver Hinton told News24 the company was founded in 2024 to support e-hailing drivers by providing an additional earning opportunity from the electronic advertising screens.
He said participating drivers earn a guaranteed monthly income regardless of performance, and added that top performers earn up to R5 000 per month “simply by continuing their daily routes”.
“Our model creates a revenue stream that costs the driver nothing to activate. They receive guaranteed monthly payments simply by doing what they are good at – driving.
“They do not wait for campaigns to perform. They earn every month,” Hinton said.
He said the company had paid out R1 million directly to drivers over the past year, and more than 2 000 drivers had expressed interest in joining the programme.
Without naming Uber, Hinton said Rohm had formally integrated into one of South Africa’s largest e-hailing platforms earlier this year. He said the arrangement was structured so that all the proceeds go to drivers and fleet owners.
100% of payments generated through our programme are dedicated directly to drivers and fleet owners. Not to the platform, not to us; to the people doing the work.
— Oliver Hinton, Rohm CEO
In addition to the earning opportunity, Hinton said drivers in the programme are enrolled for RoadCover membership, which helps them claim from the Road Accident Fund in the event of an accident.
The programme monitors driving behaviour and prompts corrective action, and every driver is set up with Valor, a voice-activated panic super app.
Finally, he said an additional function of the Rohm system is that vehicles are “instantly recognisable as legitimate e-hailing cars”.
An Uber spokesperson said the company “remains committed to supporting drivers and exploring additional earning opportunities on the platform”.
“As part of this, a third-party advertising agency has recently offered interested drivers operating on the Uber App the opportunity to participate in vehicle advertising campaigns, with the intention being to provide the drivers with additional earning opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
Legal standing
So, if Bolt decided to suspend the use of digital advertising billboards on its platform after being accused of violating the NRTA and a Cape Town by-law, where does that leave Uber and Rohm in Gauteng?
Well, the NRTA regulations are national, so they apply to any vehicle operating in South Africa. News24 perused the regulations published in the Government Gazette in 2008. A section reads as follows:
No person may
(a) Operate on a public road a motor vehicle on which it appears or is displayed any electronic or light-emitting advertisement; or
(b) Display on a stationary motor vehicle any electronic device or lights emitting advertisement visible from a public road or land adjacent to such public road, or cause it to be so displayed...
The sentence does not end in a full stop because it goes on to say that the provision does not apply to “lamp illuminating notice [and] identification lamps”. This exclusion is unlikely to be relevant to LED advertising boards.
National Transport Department spokesperson Collen Msibi confirmed this prohibition.
“The department reiterates that the NRTA forbids the display of electronic or light-emitting advertisements on motor vehicles where such advertisements are visible while on the public road.
“This regulation applies both to vehicles in motion and to stationary vehicles positioned on or near public roads,” Msibi said.
Wendy Rosenberg, the head of digital media and electronic communications law practice at Werksmans Attorneys, echoed this. She said all “advertising signs” are subject to Johannesburg’s outdoor advertising by-laws, and noted that the Uber-linked adverts would need to comply with NTRA regulations to get approval.
An ‘inclusive ecosystem’?
Hinton conceded that the NRTA prohibits the “display of electronic or light-emitting advertisements on motor vehicles operating on public roads”.
But he argued that the regulation does not accurately describe Rohm’s system.
“Rohm screens are multifunctional platforms providing road quality monitoring, driver behaviour data, and vehicle identification that reduces the risk of passengers being deceived by criminal impostors.
“They are not the static electronic advertising signs the 2008 regulation was designed to address, and that regulation cannot accurately define or contain what Rohm’s platform represents,” Hinton said.
He added that Rohm obtained legal advice before launching its “inclusive ecosystem”, including on the NRTA, and the ecosystem has been “continuously reviewed and reaffirmed throughout our two years of operation”.
Hinton also said Rohm is satisfied that its operations are lawful under the Johannesburg Outdoor Advertising By-Laws, which he argued explicitly provide an exemption for transit advertising signs.
“Our screens meet that definition precisely,” he said.
Moreover, he added, Rohm has not received any legal notice or instruction from any authority.
“We continue to operate in Gauteng transparently and in good faith, while engaging with relevant authorities across the country.”
The transport department did not, prior to publication, confirm to News24 whether it believed the signs mounted on the Uber-branded vehicles fell within the definition of electronic or light-emitting advertising under the NRTA.
The Uber spokesperson did not explicitly state the company’s view of the signs’ legal standing despite a a direct question on the matter.
“We are committed to doing the right thing, and we require that all parties with whom we work, including the third-party advertising agency, abide by all applicable laws, including any applicable national legislation and local by-laws relating to rooftop advertising,” the spokesperson said.
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