A new year is almost upon us, but before we all start celebrating that one, we thought it would be nice to give you a fun overview of what happened at Bolt in 2019, let’s take a look together! 

Drivers

• The busiest day of the week for Bolt drivers in Nigeria was Saturday.
• If you’d like to thank your Bolt driver for an excellent ride on New Year’s Eve, but your phone stopped working, you might want to give the name “Emmanuel” a shot — it’s been the most popular driver name in Nigeria this year!

Riders

Technically it was last year, but still… On the subject of New Year’s Eve, the most popular destinations that you Bolted to on NYE 2018 were:

• House on the Rock, Lekki
• Farmcity, Lekki
• Harvester’s Church, Gbagada
• Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju
• Lagos Countdown

It’s been a busy year for the lost and found box, also. Each year, hundreds of items get left in the back of Bolt rides and are later handed-in at our office. Usually, it’s things like water bottles and hairbands, but sometimes there are also a few ‘unusual’ things, such as:

• A cooler filled with fried chicken that had to be delivered to a wedding
• Suitcase of clothes
• Gas Cylinder
• A stool

A bumper year for Bolt

But what about us? Did Bolt do anything remarkable this year? In a word — ABSOLUTELY! It’s been another incredibly busy, and hugely exciting year for Bolt. Here’s a selection of some of our highlights, in no particular order.

New frontiers

We expanded our ride-hailing services to a number of new markets.

In May, we launched our services in London, where we now compete with the biggest players in the business. In September, we celebrated going live in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Closer home, we launched 4 cities – Uyo, Calabar, Port Harcourt and Kano – meaning you can Bolt in 9 cities around Nigeria.

We’re now proving to over 30 million people all over the world that urban transportation can provide decent earnings for drivers, while also being safe and affordable for passengers. No cutting corners! Be it London, Lagos or Riga – the earnings of Bolt drivers and welfare of riders is what keeps us going.

Scooters and Food

As you might know, we also tried something a little different from ride-hailing, this year. First, filling the streets of a number of cities with our two-wheeled scooters; and later filling them with bright-green Bolt Food courier bags, following the launch of our food delivery service in Estonia and Lithuania.

We’re really excited about the potential of these new products. Keep your eyes peeled, they could be coming to a city near you in 2020!

Going Greener

If you haven’t heard yet, all European rides are carbon-neutral — by supporting a number of carbon offsetting projects across the globe, we’re able to cancel out the CO₂ that your Bolt emits during your ride, making it a greener trip!

In October, we committed to what we call our Green Plan, and became the largest ride-hailing company in Europe to voluntarily commit to carbon offsetting! Curious about the initiative? Find out more.

And new year resolutions?

We only have one this time — to keep doing what we’re doing. We won’t stop in our quest to provide Bolt drivers with the earnings they deserve, and we won’t back down from doing our best to ensure the safety and affordability of everyone who requests a ride with Bolt. We’ll keep going!

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has ridden, driven, scooted or eaten with Bolt this year. We can’t wait to show you what we have planned for 2020!

If you’re ever in need of a ride, download the app and get around your city fast and affordably with Bolt!