Voi, Ryde and Lime have won the tenders to operate e-scooters and e-bikes in Oslo, Norway this season.
When high season kicks off on 1st April, Voi and Ryde are permitted to deploy 2,667 e-scooters in the capital, while Lime can deploy 2,666 e-bikes.
In this particular tender, operators could choose to apply with either e-scooters, e-bikes or both. Three operators were then selected to split 8,000 vehicles.
Nine applicants entered the tender race – Voi had its contract renewed, while two of the incumbent operators, Tier and Bolt, are being replaced by Ryde and Lime.
The city of Oslo evaluated the applicants on three main criteria: how the operators ensure accessible public spaces, how the operators ensure safe public spaces, and how the operators work to be climate and environmentally friendly in their operations.
Christina Moe Gjerde, Voi’s Regional General Manager for the Nordics and Benelux, told Zag Daily: “As we are now the only operator that has been continuously present in the Oslo market since the first e-scooters were launched back in 2019, we have built an extensive base of experience and knowledge on everything from local political and bureaucratic processes to having a huge amount of travel data that just increases every day.
“This, in combination with a team that is eager to develop 15-minute cities all over Europe, that are available and accessible for all made it possible for us to deliver a tender tailored to Oslo.”
Ryde, which is headquartered in Oslo, operates more than 25,000 e-scooters across 14 cities in Norway, Sweden and Finland and has been a profitable business since day one. Zag recently spoke with Ryde Technology’s CEO Tobias Balchen about its supplier-buyer relationship with Segway-Ninebot and how the micromobility solution provider’s vehicles support Ryde with tenders.
“Oslo has been voiced as one of the most important markets for micromobility in Europe,” Balchen told Zag. “It has been painful being headquartered in Oslo and not seeing our green e-scooters on the street. We are looking forward to April 1st when this will change.”
Two years ago, almost 20,000 e-scooters crowded the city of Oslo. But as the micromobility sector in Norway has matured, tighter regulations have seen fleet numbers slashed as the city now looks to take back control with tenders.
