Bolt Rider Academy – filling the gaps in scooter riding and parking knowledge

• Bolt Rider Academy is the newest addition to the Reckless Rider Score. It’s intended for reckless riders and new users* about to start their first ride.
• Validated by the MAPFRE Foundation and the German Accident Prevention Organisation (DVW).
• It’s interactive, developed in-house, and features regularly updated educational materials.

*In applicable markets.

Education goes a long way in correcting poor e-scooter riding and parking behaviours. That’s why we created Bolt Rider Academy — a new, interactive tool to fill the existing gaps in scooter riding knowledge.

This article will show how Bolt Rider Academy works for new and existing Bolt scooter users.

Bolt Rider Academy for first-timers and less experienced users

E-scooters are still a new form of transport, and not everybody knows how to ride them, which is perfectly fine. What’s not fine, however, is scooting without knowing the basics.

Studies show that 1/3 of all scooter crashes resulting in injuries happen on a user’s first ride.

And that’s where Bolt Rider Academy comes in. It’s automatically activated in the Bolt app after a user signs up and before their first ride.*

*In applicable markets.

Bolt Rider Academy for reckless riders

User behaviour and parking practices improve as time and experience progress.

Indeed, the majority of Bolt riders use scooters responsibly, but there’s a 2% minority who repeatedly show unsafe riding behaviour. To detect and correct these types of behaviours, we’ve come up with the Reckless Rider Score.

Riding a scooter recklessly means not following traffic rules and abusing scooters by braking abruptly, skidding, riding in tandem, and parking incorrectly.

If, during 5 scooter rides, a rider demonstrates reckless behaviour, we’ll act according to our 3-step disciplinary approach:

1. We send a rider a warning and an invitation to receive training in the Bolt Rider Academy.
2. If a rider doesn’t improve their habits during the 5 subsequent rides, they’ll get a fine and an invitation to receive training in the Bolt Rider Academy. Their maximum scooter speed might also be limited to 15 km/h.*
3. If riding behaviour remains unsafe for the 5 rides following step 2, we’ll suspend the rider from using Bolt scooters and, again, invite them to receive training in the Bolt Rider Academy.

*In applicable markets.

The first results of such an approach have already shown a 26% reduction in reckless riding over the next 3 days.

Adding the Bolt Rider Academy to the Reckless Rider Score feature will undoubtedly result in further improvement.

A closer look at the Academy

So, what’s inside the Bolt Rider Academy? Let’s take a closer look. 

Bolt Rider Academy is a series of questions about real-life situations related to scooter safety and parking that focuses on 4 topics:

• Law and order — where scooters can and cannot be ridden;
• The basics of scooting — what first-timers should know for riding safely;
• Ride smart, ride safe — an introduction to different city zones such as slow-speed and no-go areas;
• The art of parking — how to correctly park and end a ride.

After receiving the education materials, riders put their knowledge to the test with a short quiz:

One step ahead of everyone else

Bolt Rider Academy is unlike any other similar solutions on the market. And here’s what makes the quiz stand out:

• It’s mandatory for users who repeatedly mispark or show reckless riding behaviour. Users with blocked accounts can’t use our service until they pass the quiz.
• Questions are regularly updated and randomly selected to ensure users see different questions each time they take the quiz.
• All riders must score at least 60% to pass.

Validated by the MAPFRE Foundation and The German Accident Prevention Organization

We defined the content for the Bolt Rider Academy quiz in close collaboration with the MAPFRE Foundation, which specialises in road traffic safety and works towards safe, healthy, and sustainable mobility.

They provided Bolt with insightful inputs on parking and safety topics to include in the tool.

And as part of the collaboration, MAPFRE Foundation validated the tool, certifying its ability to improve users’ riding and parking skills.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Bolt to help ensure their in-app Bolt Rider Academy is an effective tool for educating Bolt customers on riding and parking scooters safely. 

This partnership is another step towards our shared goal of safe and sustainable mobility, and we look forward to continuing our work together to bridge the mobility knowledge gap and ensure Bolt’s micromobility solutions are at the forefront of scooter and e-bike safety.”

– Jesús Monclús, Director of the Area of ​​Prevention and Road Safety at Fundación MAPFRE

We’re also proud that The German Accident Prevention Organization (DVW) validated this training tool, certifying its ability to improve users’ riding and parking skills. 

“The feature is another step towards our common goal of safer and more sustainable mobility. It complements the existing safety training and awareness campaigns for e-scooters and e-bikes”.

– Daniel Schüle, Managing Director of DVW

Other safety measures

Safety Toolkit and Beginner mode

As noted above, Bolt Rider Academy is the latest addition to our other safety features available to all users.

Riders can access safety-related information (including Bolt Rider Academy educational materials) and tools anytime through the Safety Toolkit feature in the Bolt app.

The Safety Toolkit feature includes:

• Beginner Mode: limit the maximum speed and learn how to ride an e-scooter.
• How to ride: tips for beginners.
• Safety tips: reminders about responsible and safe riding.
• Local rules: information related to local micromobility regulations.

Bolt’s Smart Parking 360 for improving poor parking habits

Our recent survey revealed significant positive shifts in public perception of scooter parking.

To help drive this improvement, we’ve been implementing Bolt’s comprehensive Smart Parking 360 system, built on 5 core pillars:

1. Education and raising awareness: new riders are encouraged to learn the basics on our website, in the app, or at regular training events.

2. Parking infrastructure: we map no-parking areas with local municipalities and install parking racks and Bolt charging docks where they’re most needed.

3. Technological innovation: different app-based parking features such as ParkAssist+, which was proven to guarantee 97.2% of parking compliance. 

4. Local operations: our on-street patrol team, Bolt Patrol, monitors the streets in shifts and corrects improperly parked scooters and e-bikes. 

5. Enforcement: we use the Reckless Rider Score to identify and penalise users with an escalating penalty system.

Online and offline safety campaigns

While attitudes and regulations about helmet use vary by country and city, Bolt always recommends users wear helmets. 

We regularly organise online and offline campaigns to educate users about safety to increase the adoption of helmets and protective gear while riding.

Bringing the most value to cities and people

Our teams continuously work on bringing the most value to cities and their people.

Our advanced technology detects every case of poor parking and irresponsible or tandem riding. This has and will continue to encourage good riding behaviour naturally.

We’re proud to say that 99.997% of Bolt scooter rides ended safely without incident, while 99.995% of e-bike rides were incident-free.

If you’d like to know more about our safety features and initiatives, read our 2023 Bolt Rentals Safety Report.