Estonia unicorn Bolt says it is cutting the maximum speed of its rental e-scooters, in the interests of promoting traffic safety.
The top speed will be reduced to 17 km/h, from the c.20-25 km/h available at present, though only on Friday and Saturday evenings, regional daily, in all 11 towns and cities Bolt’s e-scooter rentals are available in, namely: Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Haapsalu, Kohtla-Järvel, Narva, Jõhvi, Rakvere, Viljandi, Võru and Kuressaare.
Eimantas Balta, head of Bolt scooters for the Baltic States, noted that speed is one of the main elements of safe traffic, while the small size of e-scooters make their riders more vulnerable.
The company has also addressed another frequent gripe with the company’s scooters, namely poor parking, while Balta said that no-parking areas have been expanded and tech is being developed to better identify cases of poor parking.
Tallinn has dedicated parking zones which also double-up as recharging stations, while an improperly-parked scooter can be reported via the Bolt app, Lõuna Postimees says.
Bolt now dominates the e-scooter rental market and is feted as one of Estonia’s half-dozen or so unicorn companies (meaning a market capitalization of a million U.S. dollars or more).
The reducing of speeds on weekend evenings only likely reflects the fact that alcohol often plays a role in e-scooter-related accidents.
At present, users must take a photo via their smartphone of a parked e-scooter at the end of a ride, with the risk of being barred out of the service for repeat offenses, while speeds are often automatically curtailed when a user enters, for instance, a pedestrianized zone.
Via Lõuna Postimees/ ERR News
