Bolt’s shared e-scooters ‘avoided 20 million car km in 2022’

As more people chose Bolt’s shared e-scooters, 20 million fewer kilometers were driven by car worldwide. In doing so, Bolt users saved more than 2,4 million kg of CO2 in Europe alone.

This is according to a study commissioned by Bolt, an Estonian mobility platform with more than 100 million customers and operating in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries in Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Latin America.

More sustainable

To put those figures in a more general context: it’s the equivalent of offsetting 3,8 million plastic single-use bags, taking more than 2 600 flights from Paris to New York, or the amount of kg CO2 offset by almost 117 000 trees yearly.

According to Marc Heather, Head of Public Policy Benelux at Bolt, the study’s findings prove once again that shared e-scooters replace polluting car trips and contribute to making cities more sustainable. “The study also clarifies how combining shared e-scooters and public transport is a good replacement for car journeys, relieving cities and reducing traffic,” says Heather.

Heather’s comments tie in with the World Health Organization (WHO) findings: over 30% of car journeys in Europe cover distances of under 3 km, and 50% cover less than 5 km.

Clear link with public transport

If you look specifically at Belgium, where Bolt’s shared e-scooters are available in Brussels, Dinant, Namur, and Ypres, you arrive at 513 678 fewer km traveled by car last year. Or an equivalent of almost 14 times around the earth. That means Bolt users saved 62 000 kg of CO2 for Belgium alone.

Moreover, the study also shows that almost half of shared e-scooters rides in Belgium connect users to public transport, which once again confirms the usefulness of shared e-scooters as a transport tool for a first/last km solution.

According to Bolt, 39% of the rides in Belgium started or ended near a bus, tram, or train station, demonstrating how micro-mobility can be integrated into a city’s transport infrastructure.

Across Europe, those figures are slightly lower, but almost four in ten trips with Bolt’s shared e-scooters in European countries were connected to public transport. This figure was even higher in some markets, such as Germany (46%), the Czech Republic (43%), and Poland (41%).

A total of 7 000 European Bolt users in 17 markets were surveyed.