Bolt launches dockless e-scooters in Madrid

Bolt, the ride-share company which was formerly called Taxify, has launched electric kick scooters in central Madrid. The firm piloted the vehicles in Paris last year – making it the first to combine scooter sharing and ride-hailing together in one mobile app, Bolt claims. “Beating the traffic is a big issue in cities like Madrid and a lot of trips are much more efficiently covered with an electric scooter rather than a car with a driver,” says Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder of Bolt. He says the dep
April 2, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Bolt, the ride-share company which was formerly called Taxify, has launched electric kick scooters in central Madrid.

The firm piloted the vehicles in Paris last year – making it the first to combine scooter sharing and ride-hailing together in one mobile app, Bolt claims.

“Beating the traffic is a big issue in cities like Madrid and a lot of trips are much more efficiently covered with an electric scooter rather than a car with a driver,” says Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder of Bolt.

He says the deployment in the Spanish capital reduces car rides and saves customers time and money.

Bolt, which now has ride-hailing services in 30 countries, pointed out the pitfalls of user %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external data false http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/transmart/news/bolt-pledges-not-to-serve-up-eyeballs-for-advertisers/ false false%> collection at 1846 ITS International’s 8545 MaaS Market conference in London in March. It says that being sensitive to the local micromobility ecosystem is an important factor for firms in the space.

“Our company’s experience in Paris, where we’ve been cooperating with the city to establish good practices for scooter use, has shown us that it’s crucial to have a good working relationship with the local government,” says Paul Alvarez, Bolt’s operations manager for Spain.

“This way you can really be targeting the pain points in city traffic and provide best value to citizens. In Madrid, we are not focusing on city centre only, but are aiming to expand our service to all areas which have limited transportation options.”

Bolt scooters come with built-in GPS trackers to provide data on pick-up and drop-off locations. Minimum fare is €1, with a ride costing 15 cents per minute.

Related Content

  • Bolt launches dockless e-scooters in Madrid
    August 16, 2019
    Bolt, the ride-share company which was formerly called Taxify, has launched electric kick scooters in central Madrid. The firm piloted the vehicles in Paris last year – making it the first to combine scooter-sharing and ride-hailing together in one mobile app, Bolt claims. “Beating the traffic is a big issue in cities like Madrid and a lot of trips are much more efficiently covered with an electric scooter rather than a car with a driver,” says Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder of Bolt. He says t
    Read More
  • Voi launches electric scooters in Lisbon
    December 13, 2018
    Swedish company Voi has launched its electric scooters in Lisbon as part of a wider ambition to expand in Europe. In addition to Portugal, the company says it plans to bring its e-scooters to Italy and France over the coming months. Frederico Venâncio, general manager of Voi Portugal, says Voi riders in Sweden have travelled more than 450,000km in Stockholm, and the company expects to see similar growth in Portugal. “Although we want to expand rapidly, we want to do it in a sustainable way and in line
    Read More
  • Uber suspends Barcelona service after new regulations introduced
    February 5, 2019
    Taxi-hailing giant Uber is suspending its service in the Spanish city of Barcelona. The move comes after new regulations were passed by local authorities, according to Reuters. The company started its UberX service in the city last year. But from now on, passengers using ride-hailing services will have to wait at least 15 minutes after booking a ride before they can be picked up – thus negating one of the key selling points of companies such as Uber. Speed and convenience – as well as cost – are w
    Read More
  • Bolt pledges not to ‘serve up eyeballs for advertisers’
    March 26, 2019
    Bolt, the ride-share firm which was previously called Taxify, has insisted that the ITS industry must be careful what it does with the data it collects. Speaking at ITS International’s MaaS Market conference in London last week, Dominick Moxon-Tritsch, Bolt’s director of regulation and public policy, told delegates: “In principle we’ve got no problem with data sharing.” The company already works with public authorities across Europe, he said, but there is an obligation on firms in the mobility sector
    Read More

Highlighted Content