📌 East African Data Protection Compliance Notice:
This policy is drafted in accordance with the Uganda Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019, the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, the Tanzania Personal Data Protection Act, 2022, and the Rwanda Data Protection Law (Law No. 058/2021).
1. Scope, Ecosystem & Who We Are
This Privacy Policy governs how VroomGo ("we", "us", or "the Platform") collects, processes, stores, and protects personal data across all our digital touchpoints: the public booking portal, the passenger mobile applications (Android & iOS), the operator fleet management console, controller dispatch and monitoring screens, driver and conductor trip tools, cashier counter tills, and customer support channels.
VroomGo is a unified multi-modal mobility and logistics technology platform operating across the East African Community (EAC), including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo. Our technology connects travelers, shippers, and vehicle renters with independent, licensed transport operators providing intercity coaches, passenger trains & SGR, lake ferries and marine vessels, regional safari flight charters, car-hire fleets, and cargo freight services.
Depending on the specific operation, VroomGo acts either as an independent Data Controller (e.g. for user accounts, platform security, payment processing, fraud prevention, and customer support) or as a Data Processor acting on behalf of participating transport operators (e.g. for managing operator-specific seat inventories, ticket check-in logs, and internal staff access). Participating transport operators remain independent data controllers for records they maintain outside the platform.
Primary Platform Operator: VroomGo Technologies Ltd, Kampala, Uganda. Data protection inquiries, privacy requests, and regulatory communications may be directed to our Data Protection Team at privacy@vroomgo.app or support@vroomgo.app. Telephone: +256 782 246 798.
2. Personal Data We Collect
We collect only the personal information strictly necessary to fulfill travel bookings, ensure passenger safety, comply with transport and immigration laws, facilitate secure payments, and prevent fraud. Categories of data processed include:
- Account & Authentication Data: Full legal name, email address, mobile telephone number, account category (passenger, driver, conductor, cashier, operator admin, controller), encrypted password credentials, and optional profile photograph.
- Traveler & Passenger Identity Data: Passenger names, age category (adult, child, infant), gender, nationality, National Identification Number (NIN) or Passport Number (mandatory for cross-border journeys and maritime/aviation passenger manifests), document issue and expiry dates, special accessibility needs, and emergency contact details.
- Multi-Modal Journey & Booking Data: Departure point, destination, travel dates, departure/arrival timestamps, carrier identity, transport mode (coach, train carriage, ferry deck, aircraft cabin), seat or berth numbers, ticket booking references (e.g. VRG-2026-XXXX), booking status, fare tiers, and cancellation/refund history.
- Cross-Border Transit Data: Border crossing station points (e.g. Busia, Malaba, Katuna/Gatuna, Namanga, Elegu/Nimule), temporary travel permit numbers, and immigration manifest declarations required by East African revenue and border authorities.
- Maritime & Aviation Passenger Manifests: Full passenger lists, next of kin contacts, and emergency declarations required under international maritime safety conventions (SOLAS on Lake Victoria/Tanganyika/Kivu) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations.
- Car Rental & Driver Verification Data: Driver's license number, class, issuing country, license validity dates, driving experience, security deposit records, vehicle inspection condition reports (with timestamped photos), pickup and return inspection sign-offs.
- Cargo, Freight & Waybill Data: Consignor (sender) and consignee (recipient) full names and verified mobile numbers, collection and delivery depot locations, item category, detailed goods description, package quantity, weight, dimensions, declared cargo value, special handling instructions (perishables, fragile, machinery), driver custody transfer signatures, and recipient 6-digit delivery OTP verification codes.
- Payment & Transaction Data: Transaction amount, currency (UGX, KES, TZS, RWF, USD), payment method (MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money, Safaricom M-Pesa, Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Visa, Mastercard), payment provider transaction tracking references (e.g. Pesapal tracking IDs, Telco transaction IDs), and masked account identifiers (e.g. phone MSISDN 256772***456 or card last 4 digits). VroomGo NEVER stores credit card CVVs or Mobile Money PINs.
- Live GPS Telemetry & Safety Data: Real-time vehicle coordinates, speed, heading, route progression, incident/SOS panic button triggers, and timestamped location check-ins from assigned crew devices during active trips.
- Operator Fleet & Crew Credentials: Transport operator registration, tax clearance numbers, statutory carrier licenses (TLB, PSV, Marine Authority Vessel Passenger License, Air Operator Certificate), fleet vehicle chassis/registration numbers, vehicle inspection certificates, and crew member background verification records.
- Communications & Support Records: Transcripts of customer support tickets, dispute reports, lost-and-found claims, baggage claims, rating reviews, and platform feedback.
- Technical, Diagnostic & Security Data: Device IP address, browser type, operating system version, mobile device unique identifier, session tokens, cryptographic rate-limit fingerprints, and audit event logs.
3. How Data is Collected
Direct User Submission: Information provided when registering an account, searching departures, reserving seats, booking cargo, paying for tickets, or submitting a support ticket.
Booking for Third Parties: When you book a trip or consign cargo on behalf of another passenger or recipient, you confirm that you have obtained their explicit consent to provide their personal data to VroomGo and the selected carrier.
Participating Transport Operators & Crew: Real-time boarding status updates, manifest confirmations, baggage tags, luggage weight records, and ticket QR code scan events recorded by conductors, station gate agents, and flight crew.
Payment & Verification Gateways: Automated webhook callbacks and payment verification responses from telecommunications operators (MTN, Airtel, Safaricom, Vodacom) and accredited payment service providers (Pesapal API 3.0).
Automated Platform Telemetry: GPS coordinates transmitted from onboard driver and crew mobile applications during active scheduled trips.
4. Why We Process Personal Data
- Seat Reservations & Inventory Protection: Reserving selected seats in real-time, executing database-level concurrency locks to prevent double-booking, and issuing cryptographically verified digital boarding tickets with offline QR codes.
- Multi-Modal Dispatch & Boarding Operations: Equipping coach conductors, train attendants, ferry gate crew, and flight personnel with real-time passenger manifests for accurate boarding verification.
- Cross-Border Border Clearance: Generating certified passenger and crew manifests for presentation to immigration, customs, and security authorities at international East African border posts.
- Cargo Waybill & Custody Chain Tracking: Generating tamper-proof digital waybills, logging custody handovers between depots and drivers, and enforcing recipient OTP validation upon delivery.
- Payment Settlement & Reconciliation: Authenticating incoming Mobile Money and card payments, holding customer funds in secure escrow merchant accounts, reconciling operator fare commissions, and processing approved refunds.
- Live Journey Radar & Safety Monitoring: Providing passengers and their loved ones with real-time GPS tracking of their active coach, ferry, or car rental journey.
- Emergency SOS & Incident Response: Transmitting precise vehicle coordinates and traveler emergency contact information to operators and first responders in the event of an accident, breakdown, or medical emergency.
- Regulatory & Statutory Compliance: Maintaining immutable financial ledgers, passenger transport records, and tax documentation required by national revenue authorities across Uganda (URA), Kenya (KRA), Tanzania (TRA), and Rwanda (RRA).
- Platform Security & Anti-Fraud Protection: Utilizing in-memory sliding-window rate limiting, cryptographic token hashing, and anomalous activity detection to protect users against account takeovers and distributed attacks.
5. Legal Grounds for Processing
Under East African data protection frameworks (including the Uganda Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019, Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, Tanzania Personal Data Protection Act, 2022, and Rwanda Law No. 058/2021), we process personal data under one or more of the following lawful grounds:
- Performance of a Contract: Fulfilling your passenger travel ticket, car-hire reservation, cargo shipment, or operator platform subscription agreement.
- Legal & Regulatory Obligation: Satisfying transport licensing regulations, road safety laws, maritime safety rules (SOLAS), civil aviation safety standards, tax accounting requirements, and lawful public authority directives.
- Vital Interests & Public Safety: Sharing emergency contact details or live coordinates with rescue personnel, police, or medical services to protect traveler life or physical safety.
- Legitimate Operational Interests: Enhancing platform stability, optimizing travel schedules, detecting fraudulent payment claims, preventing bot abuse, and auditing operational performance.
- Explicit Consent: Processing optional notifications, location-based route recommendations, or promotional communications where consent is voluntarily provided and can be withdrawn at any time.
7. Cross-Border Data Transfers Across East Africa
Because VroomGo operates regional transit corridors across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi, and DRC, personal data may be accessed or transferred across national borders within the East African Community to complete international journey bookings, process cross-border mobile money payments, and clear customs manifests.
All cross-border data transfers are executed in strict compliance with applicable regional privacy legislation, utilizing standard contractual data protection clauses, end-to-end encryption in transit (TLS 1.3), and localized database controls to safeguard traveler privacy.
8. Data Retention & Destruction Policy
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the operational, commercial, and legal obligations described in this policy:
• Financial & Tax Records: Booking invoices, payment receipts, refund logs, cargo waybills, and operator commission settlements are retained for seven (7) years in accordance with statutory tax and accounting standards across East Africa.
• Active Account Profiles: User profile data, saved travelers, and account preferences are retained while your account remains active. If you delete your account, your profile is permanently deactivated.
• Journey Telemetry & GPS Tracking: Routine GPS location coordinates and route breadcrumbs are purged within twelve (12) months, unless linked to an active insurance claim, safety investigation, or legal dispute.
• Customer Support & Inquiries: Support tickets, dispute logs, and complaint resolutions are retained for three (3) years following ticket closure.
When personal data reaches the end of its retention schedule, it is either permanently deleted from database clusters or securely anonymized for aggregate statistical analysis.
9. Technical Safeguards & Platform Resilience
VroomGo implements rigorous, defense-in-depth architectural safeguards to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, loss, or manipulation:
• Database Row Level Security (RLS): Strict database-level isolation policies in Supabase PostgreSQL ensure that each transport operator can only view their own passenger manifests and staff records. Competing operators cannot access each other's data.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Platform access is strictly partitioned into least-privilege roles (Owner, Admin, Dispatcher, Conductor, Driver, Cashier, Controller). Conductors can only scan and view manifests for their currently assigned trip.
• Cryptographic Security: Passwords and sensitive invitation codes are hashed with high-cost salt algorithms. API rate limits and verification codes are SHA-256 hashed.
• Payment Credentials Protection: VroomGo maintains PCI-DSS compliant workflows through our gateway partners. We never store raw payment card CVVs or Mobile Money personal PINs.
• High-Availability In-Memory Architecture: Stale-while-revalidate route caches and in-memory rate limiters protect the platform against traffic stampedes and DDoS attempts without exposing user identity data.
• Incident Notification: In the event of a confirmed personal data breach posing a risk to user rights, VroomGo will notify affected users and relevant data protection authorities within the statutory notification periods stipulated by law.
10. Your Privacy Rights & Choices
Under East African data protection legislation, you are entitled to exercise the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Right of Access: Request confirmation of whether we process your data and obtain a copy of your personal records.
- Right to Rectification: Correct inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete personal details directly in your account profile or via support.
- Right to Erasure ('Right to be Forgotten'): Request the deletion of your account and personal data, subject to statutory record-retention requirements (e.g. tax and passenger safety laws).
- Right to Object & Restrict Processing: Object to the processing of your data for direct marketing or request processing restrictions during active dispute investigations.
- Right to Data Portability: Receive your personal journey and payment history in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw previously granted consent for marketing communications or optional location tracking at any time without affecting prior lawful processing.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@vroomgo.app. We will respond within thirty (30) days upon verifying your identity.
11. Regional Data Protection Authorities
If you believe your privacy rights have been infringed and we have not resolved your concern adequately, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your respective national data protection supervisory authority:
• Uganda: Personal Data Protection Office (PDPO), National Information Technology Authority - Uganda (NITA-U) · Website: https://pdpo.go.ug
• Kenya: Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) · Website: https://www.odpc.go.ke
• Tanzania: Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) · Website: https://www.pdpc.go.tz
• Rwanda: National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA) - Data Protection and Privacy Office · Website: https://ncsa.gov.rw
13. Updates to this Policy & Contact
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect expansions in transport modes, new regional corridors, or changes in statutory data protection laws. Significant revisions will be highlighted via in-app banners or email notifications prior to taking effect.
Effective Date: 4 September 2026 · Version: 2.0 (East African Multi-Modal Network)
Contact Channels: Email: privacy@vroomgo.app / support@vroomgo.app · Support Hotline: +256 782 246 798 · Physical Address: VroomGo Technologies Ltd, Kampala, Uganda.