Bolt, a mobility company that provides both ride-hailing and e-scooter share, has released survey data that shows half of their London customers would prefer to take an electric scooter for short journeys.
More than 1,800 Bolt customers contributed to the findings. The result: 50.4% said they would choose an e-scooter over a private-hire vehicle (which includes ride-hailing services and taxis) for journeys up to 5km.
According to Bolt, cutting these types of car journey in half could remove 7m car trips in London each year, with incredible benefits in air quality and carbon reductions.
These findings are paradoxically astonishing and not in the least surprising. Anecdotally, we know Londoners want e-scooters, so much so that many people already ride private scooters regardless of their illegality.
This data starts to flesh out the extent of the latent demand for this new, trendy and low-carbon transport mode and adds further weight to TfL’s push towards London’s own e-scooter trial.
