CityBee concludes electric scooter service for season, Bolt to continue

Lithuania's CityBee wrapped up its first season of electric scooter rentals on Wednesday, but plans on being back next season. The Estonian-owned Bolt, however, intends to continue offering scooter rentals in Tallinn for as long as the weather permits.
This spring, CityBee first introduced its scooters in Lithuania before expanding to Latvia and Estonia. According to the companny, approximately half a million trips were made with its scooters in the Baltic states over a six-month period.
"We were most surprised by Tallinn's openness and reception of the new service," CityBee CEO Lukas Yla said in a press release. "Although we launched the rental service in Tallinn the latest, and its population is significantly smaller than those of other Baltic cities, we have 35,000 registered users there by now."
In comparison, the Lithuanian market has 82,000 registered users in all, and the Latvian capital of Riga a total of 39,000.
Altogether 468,700 trips were made in the three Baltic countries over the past half a year.
"In Estonia, scooters were rented for an average period of 23 minutes, while the average time was 21 minutes in Lithuania and 34 minutes in Latvia," Yla said. "Latvians' longer rental times were due to longer distances covered in one trip — 3-6 kilometers, on average. In Estonia and Lithuania, the average scooter ride was between 2-4 kilometers."
According to the CEO, CityBee intends to introduce higher quality scooter models to the market next season.
He highlighted that the rapid increase in popularity and active use of electric scooters demonstrate that the new micro-mobility service is important to consumers. "Electric scooters became much more popular on all three markets than, for example, ride-sharing services," he added.
For over seven years, CityBee has offered a shared car and van rental service in Lithuania and Poland. The company also launched a shared van rental service in Tallinn this April, and its electric scooter rental service in June.
Bolt: As long as weather permits
Estonian-founded and -owned transport platform Bolt, however, intends to continue renting its electric scooters in Tallinn this season for as long as weather permits, spokespeople for the company said on Wednesday.
"Bolt has set no final date for electric scooter rental," Bolt spokesperson Karin Kase told BNS. "The scooters will remain on the streets as long as they are actively used by users and as long as weather permits."
She noted, however, that the scooters obviously aren't suited for transit in snow.
Bolt, formerly known as Taxify, currently operates in over 30 countries. The company launched its electric scooter rental service in Tallinn, Pärnu and Riga in June, and expanded to Vilnius in July and Kaunas in August.
Bolt also rents electric scooters in Madrid.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla