Voi, Ryde and Bolt have won the tender to deliver shared e-scooters in Norway’s second-largest city, Bergen, for the next two years.
Though TIER was awarded one of three permits to operate in Oslo and Trondheim, the shared operator did not win a permit in Bergen.
Voi is the only operator to have emerged victorious from all three tender processes.
Øystein Rikheim Sundelin, Senior Public Policy Manager at Voi in Norway, told Zag Daily: “We are proud and humbled to place first in the Bergen tender. This is our third win in Norway this year showing that we have the micromobility solutions demanded by the people and wanted by the cities.”
Bergen has an initial cap of 900 e-scooters in the inner city, and 1,500 e-scooters in the close vicinity, shared equally between the three selected operators. These caps can be adjusted and so the operators will look to showcase an increase in demand.
Christina Moe Gjerde, Voi’s General Manager for the Nordics at Voi, said: “We will use geofencing and training to contribute to safer traffic, and through a high degree of utilisation and good routines for reuse and recycling ensure that we contribute to achieving the municipality’s climate goals.”
This month, Voi launched a new ‘Let’s get it right’ safety campaign, and safety, both for riders and non-riders, formed the basis of its offering to Bergen. This is because the city has challenging rider conditions with cobblestones and a lot of rain.
Norway is an important market for European electric scooter players because there is both high demand and lucrative margins to be made.
Oslo-based Ryde, which came second place, had a turnover of NOK 50 million in Bergen last year alone.
Tobias Balchen, CEO at Ryde, commented: “We are incredibly proud and happy for the trust from Bergen. From what we have managed to read so far, it seems as if the municipality has done a very thorough job with its assessment.”
Estonian-based Bolt interprets third place in Bergen as a great achievement. The firm’s Country Manager Jose Rei explained to Zag Daily that “as a late entrant we were expecting some challenges to prove the benefits of our service, but we have been working hard to showcase a serious and compliant operation in Bergen and that hard work has paid off.”
