Bolt scooters will start the new season in Haapsalu from Monday. This year, there are a number of changes in mobility with scooters, which increase the safety of road users and improve the parking culture.
According to Aleksandr Lilišentsev, head of Bolt’s Estonian scooter division, starting the fifth season in Estonia, we are happy to say that electric scooters have been well received by users and they willingly use them instead of driving a car. “We see that scooters are the future of urban traffic, and building a culture is what we need to do today so that scooters become a natural part of urban traffic. Today, moving with a light scooter is undoubtedly the most convenient, fastest and cheapest way to move around the city center,” said Lilishentsev. Scooters can be rented at a price of 0.18€/min and there is no initiation fee for rides.
According to Lilishentsev, the priority this season is the safety of road users, and Bolt has created new parking and speed limits, as well as a system that prevents multiple riders on one bike.
“This year, our team will focus on improving the safety of motorcycling throughout the season. We believe in educating users first and foremost, but we’re also willing to call out people whose alerts aren’t working. For example, as an innovation this year, we will start blocking scooter users who consistently abuse the service,” Lilishentsev said.
Along with the start of the new season, Bolt released a safety standards document where the company promises to raise safety standards. The document presents nine points, including a promise to develop cooperation with cities, fight drunk driving and educate scooter riders. When creating the document, Bolt used his experiences from 260 cities across Europe.
“We’ve improved our safety measures, for example with an anti-multiple driving system – now our scooter recognizes when there are two people on the same scooter. We also restricted parking on all sidewalks less than 1.7m wide in Tartu, and we plan to do so in other cities as well. Together with the cities, it is planned to create new parking areas for scooters and bring electric charging stations to the streets,” Lilishentsev said.
When renting scooters, it is mandatory to follow the traffic rules, if possible, Bolt recommends that scooter riders wear a helmet. The scooter must not be ridden while drunk and the scooter is designed for one person.
To rent scooters, open the Bolt app and click on the scooter icon in the upper right corner of the app. The customer can then see the locations of scooters near them. The scooter can be unlocked using the QR code on it. Bolt scooters can be rented from the age of 16.
Bolt scooters are available in fourteen Estonian cities this season: Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Haapsalu, Kohtla-Järve, Narva, Jõhvi, Rakvere, Viljandi, Võru, Kuressaare, Maardu, Sillamäe and Narva-Jõesuu. The scooters will likely remain on the streets until November.