Paraguayan drivers don't want to pay Bolt 23% anymore. A rental-car owner posted 9 TikToks in 13 minutes: ONE hit #1 on the travel chart in two days, but the riders haven't shown up yet
What it is The passenger app for ONE, a local ride-hailing service in Paraguay. Drivers pay only 10% commission, and in their first year get half back as fuel money. Shared rides for up to 3 people.
Why it blew up Bolt raised its commission and drivers wanted off the platform. The union pre-warmed national media, and an investor who backs a rental-car driver fleet personally pushed a batch of clips on TikTok. Then the Ueno Bank collapse hit, and the Paraguay overall chart had a very low bar to clear.
CHow to ride it: Don't build a ride-hailing platform from scratch. Productize a white-label ride-hailing system that ships in three weeks, with a driver app, commission and rebate settings. Sell it to driver associations and fleet owners in the next country where a platform just raised its commission. Follow the playbook: get a respected figure quoted in the media first, then have the owner post a cluster of videos himself.
- Data (updated daily) · Launched 2026-10-06 · PY score 2 · 11-08 best overall Top Free rank #51 (PY) · 11-08 charted in 1 stores
iOS · Overall Top Free rank · by store Data 2026-11-06 → 2026-11-08 (3 days, 3 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that dayiOS · Number of stores charted (top 200 on any chart) Data 2026-11-06 → 2026-11-08 (3 days, 3 observations)iOS · Ratings · PY Data 2026-11-04 → 2026-11-08 (5 days, 5 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
At 2026 Nov 4 at 3 sharp, a newly opened TikTok account in Paraguay, @one.pasajeros, started posting videos; by 3:13 it had posted 9 clips. The person on camera is local businessman Raúl Job Szarán, whose own account has 115k followers. Those 9 clips totaled about 11-06k views through 410, with the top one at 200k. Two days later, the ride-hailing app he paid for, ONE Pasajeros, climbed from #131 to #1 on Paraguay's App Store free travel chart, and #12 on the overall free chart. Yet to this day it has only 2 ratings. This piece covers how it climbed the charts, why a chart climb doesn't mean the business works, and what an indie developer can take from it.
What it is
ONE is a ride-hailing app from Paraguay, with a passenger app, ONE Pasajeros, and a driver app, ONE Conductores. The store listing is generic: pick a destination, see the price (quoted in guaraníes), book a ride, track the trip, share it, and contact support. The real pitch on the official site, one.net.py, is aimed at drivers: a flat 10% commission, and in the first year half the commission is paid back to drivers as fuel credit at Petrochaco gas stations. It also pushes carpooling, with up to 3 passengers per ride.
It went live on the App Store in 10-06, and 10-31 shipped 1.1.1 versions (the update note was a single line: switched to the new domain api.one.net.py). The driver app only went live in Nov 5. So in October it was just sitting in the store, and its real public launch was Nov 4–5. The iOS developer is listed as Richard Aguilar, while the passenger app on Google Play is credited to Raul Job Szaran, with only 10+ downloads. The two developer names don't match, which looks like outsourcing or white-label development (inference).
Why this month: Bolt raised its commission
The angle is driver anger. Bolt's driver commission in Paraguay went from 15% to 20% in June 2025, then rose again to 23% in October 2026 5 (Bolt's official help page), while fuel prices were also climbing.
Paraguay's platform drivers' federation, Fepacop, began making statements in national media at the end of September. Its president, Basilio Duarte, told ABC (9-25) and Hoy (9-29) that a "driver-owned app" would launch at month's end, with lower commissions and unchanged passenger prices. He said the app was "developed by foreign specialists," launched under the drivers' cooperative's name, and that "a private company is funding marketing and the launch." The federation said it had 5000 members, and that roughly 30k platform drivers are registered nationwide. At the time, no outlet reported the app's name.
The match is a Facebook group for drivers. 9-27, a post in the "Bolt Conductores Py" group: a new app is about to launch, 10% commission, 5% of fuel refunded monthly for a year, carpool, motorcycle and motorcycle delivery, "follow Raul JOB on TikTok for more" (149 reactions, 51 comments). 11-04, in another group, "CONDUCTORES BOLT PY", someone wrote "the new app we've been waiting for is finally live, download it now", with a screenshot showing ONE's two apps. The commission figure, the fuel refund, the timing and the "private company funds it" detail all line up, but neither Fepacop nor the media has publicly named ONE, so "ONE is the union's app" is only a highly likely inference, not a confirmed fact.
The people paying already have a driver in hand
Raúl Job Szarán's TikTok bio reads "ONE car and motorcycle rental entrepreneur, RSK real estate developer." He already runs a rental company called One that rents cars to Uber and Bolt drivers, with a rent-to-own option (per El Prisma's report, 2026-04). In other words, he already has a pool of drivers, the hardest side of a ride-hailing business to get. He's also controversial: when he ran for city council in 2021, he was accused of building a project that damaged a neighbor's house, and his own party asked him to withdraw (Hoy, 2021-09-15).
He's easy to recognize in the videos. The top comment is "dale Silvester Stallone" (1218 likes), some people call him "Rocky", and one reads "quiero ser conductor Raúl" (I want to be Raúl's driver). I didn't find any ad disclosure tags on these videos, so it looks like organic reach, but paid TikTok Promote can't be ruled out.
Why the chart is so easy to crack
| Date | Paraguay Free overall chart | Travel free chart | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11-04 | Not charted | 131 | 0 |
| 11-05 | Not charted | 31 | 0 |
| 11-06 | 12 | 1 | 2 |
(Daily rankings from the App Store Paraguay storefront; the rating count for 11-06 comes from the App Store listing.)
It charted in only one country, Paraguay. On the same day, Bolt was #32 overall on the Top Free chart and #2 in Travel, while Uber was #73 and #3.
There's also a stroke of luck. On Nov 3, Paraguay's digital bank Ueno Bank was taken over by the central bank, freezing the accounts of nearly 3M users (UPI 11-03, Euronews 11-05). 11-06 The top 10 on the Top Free overall chart were all other banks and wallet apps. ONE sat at #12 among those banks, which suggests the bar for overall charting in a country of 7M people is low, and a few hundred downloads a day is probably enough (inference, Apple doesn't publish download counts). The name also collided: under the most-viewed video, "I thought it was the new ONE BANK" got 407 likes, "I thought it was a bank" got 249 likes, and someone asked "Do you accept ueno?". How many extra downloads this brought in can't be calculated.
Whether passengers buy in
The app charted, but passengers aren't visibly using it yet. As of 11-06 it had only 2 ratings. The comments react most strongly to carpooling: "'ONE passengers', up to 3 people per ride 😂" (665 likes), "no to carpooling... then we might as well take the bus", "carpooling is the worst idea", "I don't really trust the drivers, and now I have to share a ride with strangers?". One comment is worse: "I entered my destination and it says there's no price available for this route." A driver is also doing the math: "If the cut is too small, no driver will want to use this app."
ONE's differentiation is all on the driver side. On the passenger side, the only claim is "prices aren't higher than the others." Ride-hailing is a two-sided market: with driver supply only live as of 11-05, whether there are enough drivers and whether passengers can get a ride depends on the next few weeks.
Who it's competing with
| Competitors | Scale in Paraguay | How it differs from ONE |
|---|---|---|
| Bolt | iOS 25k ratings, +7 in the last 206 days | The leader, driver commission 23%; ONE's opening is exactly this |
| Uber | iOS 59k ratings, +7 in the last 250 days | Largest scale, has a Go Pass subscription |
| MUV | iOS 141 ratings, #18 in Travel | Local veteran, same group as Ueno, once advertised a 10% commission |
| inDrive | iOS 1010 ratings, #22 in Travel | Passenger sets the price |
| GO | Claims 3000–11000 drivers (Facebook post, unverified) | No commission, drivers pay ₲49,990 monthly |
| Mbarete Ride | iOS 4 ratings, #13 in Travel | Local ride-hailing app shipped by solo dev 10-26 |
(App Store Paraguay storefront 11-06; GO info from its website and Facebook posts)
GO and Mbarete Ride both appeared in the same month, which suggests "local Bolt alternatives" in Paraguay are a wave, not a one-off idea from ONE.
How many people know about it
Very little. Media only reported that "drivers are building their own app" without naming ONE; searches on X for ONE Pasajeros, Fepacop, and Szaran turned up no discussion in the last 60 days. The visible buzz is limited to Raúl's TikTok and driver Facebook groups.
If it were you
One-line take: ONE surged because a union, a backer with its own fleet, the boss's own TikTok, and two national news events landed in the same week. Indie developers can't replicate that, and ONE itself hasn't yet proven passengers will use it. Building a ride-hailing app to copy it isn't worth it; what's worth learning is its launch cadence and the outsourced demand behind "drivers building their own platform."
Who it suits: small teams that have built two-sided apps like ride-hailing, food delivery, or errand services and can quickly rework a white-label system for a local market; people with connections to driver organizations or fleet owners in Latin America or Southeast Asia.
Who it doesn't suit: solo indie developers hoping to build a ride-hailing app and climb the charts. Without partners who already have drivers and without a subsidy budget, you won't hold on even if you get there.
How to do it:
- Don't build the platform; build for the people behind it. ONE's iOS developer credit is an outsider, and media described it as "developed by foreign experts." Unions and fleet owners want a system they can launch within three weeks, with driver-side tools, and with configurable commissions and rebates. Turn that into a product and sell it to driver cooperatives or fleet owners in the next country.
- Copy its launch cadence: first have a credible figure (a union, a KOL) establish the "we're building our own" narrative in the press, then release the app a month later. On launch day, post a burst of videos from new accounts in a short window, with the boss on camera.
- If you change angles, cover what ONE hasn't: carpooling got hammered locally, and passengers want "no pricier than Bolt, reliable pickups, and safe," not a new model.
How to get customers: your customers are driver organizations and fleet owners, not passengers. Watch local news in each country for "platform raises commission" and "driver protests," then find people through driver Facebook groups and union leaders; pitch them with cases like ONE.
When to move: the window follows platform price hikes. The one-to-two months after Bolt, Uber, or DiDi raises commissions in a country are when drivers are most willing to switch and organizations most willing to pay. Once the price-hike news fades, the momentum fades too.
Signs you've misread it: if in a month or two ONE's rating count is still single digits and its Travel rank keeps sliding, or reviews keep saying "can't get a ride" or "no price shown," the "drivers build their own platform" wave isn't sticking in Paraguay, and outsourcing demand will shrink with it. Conversely, if ONE retains drivers and starts getting passenger ratings, driver organizations in the next country will be more likely to copy it.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one Bolt iOS 2013 iOS 25k ratings, +7 in 206 days, overall free chart #4–32 Leader, driver commission 23%; ONE targets its drivers with a 10% commission plus fuel rebates Uber iOS 2010 iOS 59k ratings, +7 in 250 days Largest scale, has a Go Pass subscription; ONE competes on local focus, low commission, and union backing MUV iOS 2017 iOS 141 ratings, #18 in Travel, claims 500k users Local veteran, owned by ITTI/Grupo Vázquez (same group as Ueno; 11-06 assets frozen); ONE is a newcomer backed by a driver organization and a influencer boss inDrive iOS 2013 iOS 1010 ratings, #22 in Travel Passenger sets the price; ONE uses fixed prices plus carpooling GO(GO Company) Android Around 2026-11 Claims 3000–11000 drivers (Facebook post, unverified) No commission, drivers subscribe at ₲49,990 monthly; ONE takes a 10% commission plus fuel rebates Mbarete Ride iOS 2026-10-26 4 ratings, #13 in Travel Local ride-hailing built by an individual developer, with no union or influencer backing - Where users come from
- Verified: TikTok founder and investor appear in a concentrated run of posts: @one.pasajeros posted 9 videos from 11-04 15:00–15:13, with views of 198k/82k/42k and so on, about 410k in total; Raúl's personal account posted 5 videos in the same period (top one 50k). The next day the travel chart went from 131 to 31, and by day three it was #1
- Verified Union and national media buildup: in late September Fepacop was covered by ABC, Hoy, La Nación/GEN (144k TikTok views), and RCC as previewing "drivers' own app," with lower commission and unchanged passenger prices
- Verified driver Facebook groups: the "Bolt Conductores Py" post 9-27 names Raul JOB, 10% commission, 5% fuel rebate (149 reactions); "CONDUCTORES BOLT PY" 11-04 "new app is live, download it now"
- Inferred Backer's own rental fleet (cold-start supply): Raúl's rental company One rents cars to drivers working for Uber/Bolt (El Prisma 2026-04)
- Inferred Traffic from the Ueno Bank collapse / name collision: 11-03 Ueno was taken over; top video comments included "pensé que era el nuevo ONE BANK" (389 likes) and "aceptan ueno?"
Why ONE Pasajeros (iOS id6814217636) managed to chart
Research date 2026-11-06. Sources: our appstore database (Paraguay storefront py, from 2026-10-28), Apple lookup, Jina search / page text, TikHub (TikTok), x-radar. Inferences without a cited source are labeled "Inferred."
One line
ONE Pasajeros is the passenger side of a local Paraguayan ride-hailing service. It didn't grow on the strength of the product alone. Three forces landed the same week: driver anger over Bolt raising its commission (to 23% in October 5), a driver union, Fepacop, that had been pre-announcing "drivers' own app" in the press for over a month, and the backer, local influencer-businessman Raúl Job Szarán (115k TikTok followers), posting 9 TikToks in one burst in November 4 (all within 13 minutes, about 410k total views). It reached #12 because Paraguay's free overall chart has a very low threshold, and from November 3 the whole chart was flooded by downloads of "switch bank" apps after Ueno Bank collapsed. This doesn't prove passengers are using it: as of today it has only 2 ratings.
1. Data: how much did it actually grow?
| Date | Paraguay Free overall chart | Travel free chart | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-04 | Not charted | 131 | 0 |
| 2026-11-05 | Not charted | 31 | 0 |
| 2026-11-06 | 12 | 1 | 0 (database) / 2 (Apple lookup that day) |
(Source: appstore database app_day, cc=py)
- Charted only in the Paraguay store. At the same time Bolt was #32 on the overall free chart and #2 in Travel, Uber #73 and #3. Between November 1 and 3 Bolt briefly reached #4–6 and Uber #11 (appstore database).
- 11-06's free overall chart top 10 was all banks and wallets (Conti Móvil, Eko, Itaú, Banco Familiar, BNF...). Ueno Bank was taken over by the central bank in November 3, freezing accounts of nearly 3M users (UPI 11-03, Euronews 11-05), so people downloaded other banks' apps. ONE ranked among the banks, which shows Paraguay's overall chart has a low bar: #12 probably needed a few hundred downloads a day (inferred; Apple doesn't publish download counts).
- The App Store release date was 10-06. 10-31 has shipped 1.1.1 versions, and the latest update notes say "connected to the new domain api.one.net.py." The driver app ONE Conductores (id6814217957) hit the App Store in November 5 (Apple lookup). The Google Play passenger app shows 10+ downloads with developer Raul Job Szaran; on iOS the developer credit is Richard Aguilar (Google search snippet, Apple lookup). So it sat in the stores in October, and the public launch was November 4–5.
2. Who built it: a union lends its name, an influencer-businessman provides money and traffic
- Background: Bolt's commission in Paraguay rose from 15% to 20% (2025 June), then to 23% (from 2026-10-05), while fuel prices were also climbing. Basilio Duarte, president of Fepacop (Paraguay's platform drivers' federation), said in late September on GEN/Nación Media, ABC, Hoy, and La Tribuna: "At the end of the month we launch our own app, with a lower commission and unchanged passenger prices" (Hoy 9-29, ABC 9-25, Bolt's official commission notice).
- ABC 9-25 reported that the app was "developed by foreign experts," launched under the name of a "platform drivers' cooperative," with "a private company funding marketing and the launch." The union had 5000 members, the cooperative about 400 members, and roughly 30k platform drivers were registered nationally. No outlet named the app at the time (EPI on X 9-30 wrote "Todavía sin nombre revelado", meaning "name not yet revealed").
- Supporting evidence: 9-27 someone posted in the Facebook group "Bolt Conductores Py": "The new app goes live soon: cars from 2000 years old and newer can run, commission 10%, prices the same as competitors, and for the first year 5% of fuel costs returned in cash each month; carpooling, moto, moto delivery... follow Gerardo Medina and Raul JOB on TikTok for more" (149 reactions, 51 comments, FB). The official site one.net.py says exactly "flat 10% commission, with half the commission returned in the first year as fuel credit at Petrochaco stations." 11-04 In the "CONDUCTORES BOLT PY" group a post said: "The new app we've been waiting for is finally live, download it now," with screenshots of ONE Pasajeros and ONE Conductores, developer Raul Job Szaran (FB).
- The money: Raúl Job Szarán, TikTok @rauljobszaran, 115k followers and 1M likes, bio reads "ONE car and moto rental entrepreneur, RSK real estate development." He already ran a rental company called One that rents cars to Uber / Bolt drivers, with rent-to-own and financing toward home purchase (El Prisma 2026-04). He already had a pool of platform drivers renting his cars, a natural source of cold-start supply. He also has a negative record: during a 2021-year run as a city council candidate he was accused of building on a neighbor's property and defrauding his father, and his party asked him to withdraw (Hoy 2021-09-15).
- The link between "ONE" and the Fepacop app: the commission figures, fuel rebate, timing, "privately funded", and "foreign developer" (iOS credits Richard Aguilar) all line up, but I found no public report or source naming Fepacop or ONE. Treat it as "highly likely, not officially confirmed".
3. Where users came from (growth tactics)
- The boss himself dropped a burst of TikToks (confirmed, the main wave): a newly opened account @one.pasajeros (bio "App de pasajeros compartidos", 6143 followers) posted 9 videos over 15:00–15:13 11-04, with views of 198k / 82k / 42k / 29k / 24k / 13k / 9k / 7k / 5k, about 410k total, the top one with 13.6k likes and 992 shares. TikHub shows no ad flag on these videos, so it looks like organic reach (though paid Promote can't be ruled out). Raúl himself is on camera, and the comments are all "dale Silvester Stallone", "Rocky", "quiero ser conductor Raúl". He also posted 5 videos on his personal account in the same period (top one 50k views). The next day (11-05) the travel chart moved from 131 to 31, and by the third day it was at #1. The timing matches exactly.
- Driver groups and union pre-launch (confirmed): from late September, Fepacop got national media coverage (ABC, Hoy, La Nación, GEN's TikTok with 144k views, RCC, Unicanal), and driver Facebook groups with thousands to tens of thousands of members kept posting about it. The first users were drivers, who then brought relatives and friends in as passengers.
- Name collision with Ueno (inference, with some supporting evidence): "ONE" and the just-collapsed "ueno" sound and look alike in Spanish. In the top video's comments: "pense que ya era el nuevo ONE BANK" (389 likes), "Yo pensé que era banco tmbb" (249 likes), "aceptan ueno?". ONE launched the day after Ueno collapsed, riding the country's hottest topic, and may have picked up some search traffic meant for "ueno". It can't be quantified.
- Not found: Apple Search Ads, Meta / TikTok ads (our ad libraries don't track this product; the TikTok ad library only covers Europe), media naming it, or discussion on X (x-radar searched ONE Pasajeros / Fepacop / Szaran, 60 days, 0 posts each).
4. Competitors
| Competitors | Platform | Launched | Scale (PY) | How ONE differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt | iOS/Android | 2013 (global) | iOS 25k ratings, +206 in 7 days, #4–32 on the overall free chart | Market leader; driver commission 23%, and driver resentment is ONE's opening |
| Uber | iOS/Android | 2010 (global) | iOS 59k ratings, 7 days +250 | Largest scale; Go Pass subscription model (0% service fee) |
| MUV | iOS/Android | 2017 | iOS 141 rating, #18 in travel, claims 500k users | Long-running local player, part of ITTI / Grupo Vázquez, same group as Ueno Bank; 11-06 ITTI's assets were frozen by court order (same-page report in Hoy); it had already advertised a 10% commission |
| inDrive | iOS/Android | 2013 | iOS 1010 rating, #22 in travel | Passenger bidding model |
| GO(GO Company) | Android | Around November 2026 | Claims 3000–11000 drivers (Facebook post, unverified) | New local player, no commission, drivers pay a ₲49,990 monthly subscription; ONE is low commission + fuel rebate |
| Mbarete Ride | iOS | 2026-10-26 | 4 ratings, #13 in Travel | Local taxi app built by an individual developer, part of the same "local alternative to Bolt" wave |
| Cabify / DiDi | iOS | Early on | Basically no traction in PY | International player, weak in Paraguay |
(Scale comes from the PY data in the appstore library 2026-11-06; MUV's user count comes from the ITTI website; GO comes from godriverscompany.com and Facebook posts.)
5. Differentiation, and whether that's why it took off
- On positioning, the differentiators are four: driver commission of 10% + half the commission in the first year rebated as Petrochaco fuel credit; a "carpool" model, up to 3 passengers per ride (the TikTok bio is literally "pasajeros compartidos"); a safety focus (face recognition, fingerprint login, 24/7 trip monitoring, SOS); and a local team and office.
- These are all pitched at drivers. For passengers, the only selling point is "not more expensive than the others". Carpooling actually drew a wave of complaints in the comments: "compartido la PEOR IDEA", "why would I share a ride with strangers".
- So the reason it hit the chart isn't product differentiation; it's organization + creator distribution + timing: the union provided the name and public voice, the car-rental boss provided money and a fleet, and there's his own TikTok persona; the launch also coincided with two national events, Bolt raising commissions and Ueno collapsing, and the chart bar is low. The driver side only went live 11-05 ago, the passenger side has just 2 ratings, and a comment says "pongo un destino y me sale que no hay tarifa disponible" (I enter a destination and it says no fare is available), suggesting most people have downloaded it without actually using it yet. Ride-hailing is a two-sided market, and one download wave can't sustain it.
6. How many people know about it
Hardly anyone knows about it yet. Media only reported that "drivers are building their own app" without naming ONE; there's no discussion on X; revenue isn't public (a ride-hailing platform doesn't really have an MRR). The visible buzz is only Raúl's own TikTok and the driver Facebook groups. Paraguay has also seen apps like GO and Mbarete Ride pop up as "local Bolt alternatives" at the same time, so they appeared in parallel with ONE rather than one copying the other.
7. What to borrow
- Ride the window of platform price hikes: in the month a platform raises commissions, supply-side users are most willing to switch. First get a union or KOL to establish in the media the message "we'll build our own", then launch the app.
- Find a funder who controls supply: a car-rental owner who leases to drivers already has a fleet and drivers, which solves the hardest side of cold start.
- The boss on camera, a concentrated burst of posts: 9 videos in 13 minutes from a new account, 410k views in 1 days, which is enough to hit #1 on a small chart in a country of 7M people.
- Low thresholds on small-country charts: Paraguay's overall #12 may need only a few hundred downloads a day, and a national event like a banking crisis can bring in extra attention.
- But "driver co-op builds its own platform" has appeared many times across Latin America. Whether it sticks depends on ride density and how long subsidies last, not on chart climbing.
8. Still unclear
- Whether Fepacop officially backs ONE (no report naming it was found).
- Whether TikTok Promote was used on the @one.pasajeros videos, and whether there's other paid acquisition.
- Actual order volume, number of drivers online, and coverage areas (a commenter reported no fares being offered).
- How many downloads the Ueno name collision actually brought.
- Who the developer is (iOS credits Richard Aguilar, which looks like outsourcing or white-label).
- How long #12 can hold: the driver side only went live 11-05 ago, so watch whether the rating count grows.