Half of the respondents do not support the operation of “Bolt” in Bauska, while the other half support it; you can participate in the survey until April 4 – BauskasDzive.lv

Until Thursday, April 4, residents of the Bauska region can participate in a survey about the need for electric scooter rental service in the city of Bauska. By Tuesday, April 2, 132 residents had filled out the survey in the mobile app of the municipality of Bauska region. The vote is currently quite similar – more than 50% do not support the rental of electric scooters in Bauska, while 49% of the survey participants have no objections and agree with the availability of such a service in the city.

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We already reported that in the middle of March, the residents of Bauska district were invited to a meeting at the Bauska cultural center with the representative of the micromobility service provider “Bolt” to discuss the possible arrival of “Bolt” in Bauska. There was little response to the live discussion, only a few townspeople participated, so the municipality decided to find out the opinion of the residents in the form of a survey.

The survey can be filled out in the municipality’s mobile app “Bauska District” in the “Surveys” section. Bauskas county resident card holders can also vote in Bauskas county state and municipal unified customer service centers.

The app can be downloaded for free on Google Play (for Android devices) and App Store (for iOS devices). In order to participate in surveys, the target audience of which are the declared residents of Bauska region, residents must use strict authentication when registering, using the entry Latvija.lv.

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In Latvia, “Bolt” scooters are available in 19 Latvian cities in the 2024 season – Riga, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Valmiera, Daugavpils, Ogre, Liepāja, Ventspils, Rēzekne, Sigulda, Ikšķīle, Tukum, Jēkabpilī, Cēsis. From the spring of 2024, such cities as Saulkrasti, Salaspils, Ķekava, Lielvārde and Ādaži have joined this list.

“We have always been focused on cooperation – both by maintaining an open dialogue with municipalities where the services provided by “Bolt” are already available, and also by helping to introduce our services in new cities. We are pleased that more and more municipalities value scooters as a convenient and modern way of transportation and want to offer their benefits to their residents and city visitors. Also in the new season, we will continue to educate scooter users about safe movement in the urban environment and proper scooter parking culture to ensure the safety of all road users,” said Ronalds Ābols, head of “Bolt” scooter operations in Latvia.

He noted that “Bolt” already introduced speed limits for scooters at night on weekends last spring in several cities, reducing the maximum speed from the usual 25 km/h to 20 km/h. The decision to reduce the speed was made last year in order to draw the attention of scooter drivers themselves to safe movement, as well as to ensure the safety of other road users. At the same time, the previously determined limit of 10-15 km/h remains in effect in certain urban areas.

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In order to promote the change of habits of reckless scooter users and safe movement, “Bolt” will continue to implement and analyze the indicator of reckless driving this year as well. The indicator will be measured for all Bolt scooter users who have completed at least five rides. Thanks to the wide range of sensors of the scooters, it will be possible to determine, for example, whether the scooter is being driven by two people, there is a sudden braking, skidding, collision, as well as parking the scooter in the prohibited zone. If the score is negative, the user will first receive a notification in the app along with educational information on how to improve their driving culture. In the event that the user’s performance does not improve during the next five rides after familiarization with the materials, the maximum speed of the scooter for that user will be reduced to 15 km/h. On the other hand, those who continue to ride irresponsibly after that will be denied access to Bolt scooters for one week.

It should also be taken into account that external factors such as the weather also affect the possibilities of using scooters. Bolt is constantly monitoring the changing spring weather in all cities where the scooters are available, and in cases where the weather is not safe for travel, the scooters will be temporarily suspended. Unfavorable weather conditions are characterized by, for example, air temperature dropping below zero degrees, snowfall or heavy rains. In such cases, the scooters will still be on the streets, but they will not be able to be used. Users will be notified of any changes in the mobile app.