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 t
August 16, 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 data collection at 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.

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smarter transport remains key to smart cities
    January 9, 2018
    Colin Sowman looks at some of the challenges and solutions that will provide enhanced transport efficiency in tomorrow’s smarter cities. However you define a ‘smart city’, one of the key ingredients will be an efficient transport system. As most governments and city authorities face financial constraints, incremental improvements in the existing systems is the most likely way forward. In London, new trains and signalling are improving the capacity of the Underground but that then reveals previously
    Read More
  • Investors point to bright future for micromobility
    January 23, 2020
    Some big names are looking to invest in transportation companies – and this new confidence in the future of MaaS and micromobility indicates a step change, says Ito World’s Johan Herrlin
    Read More
  • Siemens: self-driving minibuses are the future of first-/last-mile
    February 26, 2020
    Markus Schlitt, CEO of intelligent traffic systems at Siemens Mobility, talks to ITS International about safety and why it is important for cities to offer additional shared and connected transit options.
    Read More
  • Dutch strike public/private balance to introduce C-ITS services
    November 15, 2017
    Connected-ITS applications are due to appear on a nation-wide scale this summer, through the Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership – if all goes to plan. Jon Masters reports. The Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership (TTP) looks almost too good to be true: an artificial market set up and supported by national, regional and local government to accelerate deployment of Connected ITS (C-ITS) applications. If it does have any serious flaws, these are going to become apparent quite soon, because the first
    Read More

Highlighted Content