Marketplace Conduct Guidelines: Riders

We want everyone to have safe, smooth, and satisfying experiences with Bolt. By protecting the integrity of our marketplace, we ensure that drivers are able to provide services in a safe and productive environment, riders receive prompt and delightful services, and the BOLT marketplace can continue to function in a sustainable way.

In order to create a clear expectation for how you, the Rider, can help us create that environment, we provide a list of Conduct Guidelines. By following them, you help us keep drivers safe and happy, and on the road for you.

These are simple rules of thumb Riders should follow:

• Always be kind to your driver and respectful of their car;
• Try not to cancel your ride unless you absolutely have to, it will take you longer to get where you are going, and it wastes the driver’s time;
• Always show up for your ride. Keep an eye out for the driver arriving, and don’t keep them waiting too long.

Consistent failure to uphold any one of the above standards is directly harming integrity of the BOLT Marketplace and is sufficient to prompt a warning or suspension of ability to request ride hailing services.

Why are these guidelines important to the Bolt Marketplace?

Be kind to your driver and respectful of their time, and their car. By doing this, you enable drivers to operate efficiently, which enables you and other riders to receive quick and delightful service whenever you need it.

Being kind to your driver and respectful of their car creates a productive and satisfying environment for drivers to offer their services. By creating this environment, we create a marketplace that drivers want to be in. The more drivers available, the faster you can get where you are going.

Everyone needs to cancel a ride from time to time, that’s totally fine. But cancelling excessively wastes drivers time and negatively affects other riders’ experience by occupying these drivers with orders they won’t be able to complete. A cancellation charge for cancelling an order after a driver has already made significant progress in heading towards the pickup location, which aims to compensate the driver for their effort, may be applied. But it is not sufficient for offsetting the impact on the marketplace of heavily repeated consistent behavior of this type on other riders’ ability to be matched with drivers who can get to them quickly. Nor does it fully offset the lost opportunity cost for the driver who had their ride cancelled.

If you’ve ordered a ride and you are unable to take it, or no longer need to, cancelling it is far better than just not showing up when the driver arrives. We do understand that sometimes cancellations are necessary, but not showing up for your ride wastes driver time and leaves other riders without access to that driver’s services until your order is cancelled or completed.

How are these guidelines enforced?

Always be kind to your driver and respectful of their car:

We consider at minimum the ratings that drivers leave on riders, averaged over a certain number of relatively recent orders. Other signals such as reports to customer support could be considered as well. If the aggregate of driver feedback about a rider dips below a certain threshold, that rider can be warned and suspended.

In general, treat your driver in the same way you would want to be treated, and treat their car like it was your own. But to be more specific, here is a list of the most common behaviors that can lead to getting negative feedback from your driver:

• Be careful not to damage your driver’s car in any way
• Be kind and courteous. Don’t shout at your driver or call them names
• It’s best to avoid controversial topics, such as politics.
• If you feel like you are about to be ill, ask the driver to pull over
• Don’t keep the driver waiting a long time for you to reach the car for pickup

Try not to cancel your ride unless you absolutely have to:

We understand that cancellations are necessary sometimes, your plans change and you need to stay where you are, you realise you forgot your wallet and you can’t find it, or the driver we matched you with can’t get to you fast enough, and we make room for that within the guideline. We look for repeated cancellation tendencies and if this reaches a certain threshold, the rider can be warned and suspended.

Always show up for your ride. Keep an eye out for the driver arriving, and don’t keep them waiting too long:

Nothing is more wasteful of a driver’s time than not showing up for the ride. However, we understand that not all rides that end for this reason were the result of the rider intentionally not showing up. In some situations, it can be difficult for the driver and rider to locate each other, which can lead to the driver cancelling the ride and indicating that the rider didn’t show up, when in reality, the rider was actively searching for the car. For that reason, we again look at repeated behavior over time that signals a tendency not to respect orders made and thus greatly harms integrity of the BOLT Marketplace. We do not focus on single incidents.

Some helpful tips to avoid your rides being cancelled for this reason:

• Keep an eye on the app for when your driver will be arriving. Try to be at the pickup location when they arrive
• If you can’t be at the pickup location immediately, call or chat with your driver and tell them you are on your way
• If you are struggling to find the driver, call or chat with them to coordinate

In general, communication goes a long way in making sure that your driver will wait for you, rather than cancelling the ride and claiming that you did not show up.

What happens if I violate the guidelines?

We would rather not restrict access to any of our services, but we have an obligation to our users and suppliers to protect the integrity of BOLT Marketplace. As such herein described repeated behavior that harms integrity of it can lead to riders being suspended from access to ride hailing services for 6 months.

If we detect such behavior, you will receive a warning in the Bolt app the next time you try to take a ride. This will contain a link to these guidelines, so that you can refresh on how to avoid further action if you would like to continue using the platform.

If we continue to detect behavior harming the integrity of BOLT Marketplace, then you will be suspended from access to ride hailing services. A message will appear when you try to order a ride to explain this, and you won’t be able to continue.

What can I do if I’m suspended?

You can be suspended from using ride hailing specifically, not from other Bolt services, or the app itself. You will still be able to use the app for other purposes, such as using our scooters, renting an e-vehicle, checking your ride history and your account information, contacting our Customer Support to address your concerns

Can I appeal my suspension?

If you believe that you were suspended unfairly or by mistake, you have the right to contact Bolt support via the app and request your suspension to be reviewed.

If you’d like to know more about how Bolt processes your data impacting such decisions - please check our Privacy Policies, you can read them here.