Need help on a pilot for a service that is first-of-its-kind, in a city that is 50% less populated than Lagos, Nigeria

Hello!

I have been contacted by a friend, a 'first-of-a-kind' carpooling auto service that wants to pilot in a city that is 50% less populated than Lagos, Nigeria which is known for as a commercial hub and over populated. The city isn't commercial but it is the federal capital territory of Nigeria. what runs the city is politics and civil services.

So the startup had started operations in Lagos last month and they have reached over 1k signups on driver & rider data till date, because Bolt & Uber are already active so it was easy for them to have penetrated through.

Now my friend wants me to manage the startup arm of the Carpooling services here in the f.c.t and already there are data of community of drivers using Bolt & Uber on ground which could give an easy penetration since if I get to convince the drivers the good they can get from this service at what they don't get using Bolt & Uber.

But the thing is when having the 3 way convo between I, the ceo and my friend who referred me, my friend suggested using buses to run a pilot to see how viable it will be. ( Now there are no hailing services for buses like how uber & bolt use vehicles for their services ), rather buses here are run and registered under a union. So I am skeptical about the piloting & I made possible contributions that we should use the data we have already on ground, & that the buses could come later on.

(* the startup is a ride-sharing service where a driver puts up a destination on where he is heading to and getting requests from riders heading his destinations. Pickups are from bustops and the fee rate are shared among the riders. )

Please I know its a long thread but I need your utmost opinion & advice.