Bolt appoints Micromobility Safety Committee and launches distance-based pricing

Micro-mobility operator Bolt has announced that it has appointed an independent Micromobility Safety Committee to get expert analysis and recommendations on Bolt’s scooter and e-bike safety solutions. The committee, which consists of six mobility experts, met for the first time on 26 September 2023 at Bolt headquarters in Tallinn and welcomed Bolt’s plans to launch distance-based pricing in Brussels as opposed to charging per time. 

The current industry standard of charging riders for the duration of their trips can incentivise them to reach their destinations as quickly as possible, potentially leading to speeding and other risky riding behaviours, like ignoring traffic lights. Distance-based pricing is aimed at ensuring riders’ focus on riding safely. Bolt will roll out the new pricing solution in Brussels later in 2023 to all riders.

The decision to launch distance-based pricing was welcomed by Bolt’s newly formed independent Micromobility Safety Committee. The committee is chaired by María Seguí-Gómez, former Director General for Traffic at the Spanish Interior Ministry, and first met in September 2023. The committee is made up of five other mobility experts: 

• Kurt Bodewig, Deputy Chair of the Committee, President of Deutsche Verkehrswacht and former German Minister for Transport, Building, and Urban Development
• Karin Hassner, transportation planner and road safety expert at WSP
• Adam Jędrzejewski, Founder and CEO of the Mobile City Association in Poland
• Chantelle Smith, National Access and Mobility Manager at the National Council for the Blind of Ireland
• George Yannis, Professor in Traffic and Safety Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. 

In addition to launching distance-based pricing, the committee also recommended that Bolt review its data-gathering to better assess the impact of micro-mobility on vulnerable groups, such as visually impaired people, to understand potential risks and develop solutions to tackle them. Given that shared scooters and e-bikes are still relatively new solutions, the committee also advised adopting data collection methods and aligning definitions of what constitutes an accident more closely with other transport types. This will help operators and cities to better understand how micro-mobility can be implemented as safely as possible.

The Micromobility Safety Committee will provide Bolt with regular advice and recommendations on how to integrate scooters and e-bikes into cities’ existing transport networks in the safest possible way. 

Dmitri Pivovarov, Vice President for Rentals at Bolt, said: “Scooter and e-bike safety is our top priority and we take the recommendations from our experts on the Bolt Micromobility Safety Committee very seriously. We have already committed to launching distance-based pricing in Brussels later [in 2023]. The committee also is the next step of our Micromobility Safety Pledge, published [in 2023], which committed to build new partnerships and utilise operational data more to ensure that both our customers and other road users are safe.”

María Seguí-Gómez, former Director General for Traffic at the Spanish Interior Ministry and Chair of the Micromobility Safety Committee, said: “Charging riders of mobility services based on distance rather than time is an important step to prioritise safety over speed because it eliminates the financial incentive for people to use transport in risky or dangerous ways, in order to reach their destinations as quickly as possible. By testing a distance-based pricing system, Bolt can improve our understanding of how an improved incentive structure can positively impact road safety outcomes.”