After its electric scooters, the Estonian company Bolt is launching its taxi service in Switzerland. Uber’s competitor makes its debut in Zurich. The service is distinguished, for example, by a function just for women or increased support for drivers.
Stefan Ehrbar / ch media
Order a taxi through an app at a defined price, track the vehicle’s location live and, at the end, pay for the trip in the app: this so-called “ride hailing” principle has been popularized by the Uber platform. The American service is active in Switzerland in nine cities, including Zurich, Basel, Bern and Zug. He is now faced with the arrival of a competitor.
The Estonian company Bolt is launching its carpooling service in Switzerland. In Zurich and Basel, Bolt already offers e-scooters and e-bikes that can be booked via the app. Since Tuesday, Bolt has also been offering taxi rides, initially only in Zurich and the surrounding area.
Bolt has been allowing rides in Switzerland since Tuesday.Image: Bolt
Licensed taxi and limousine drivers can sign up for Bolt and accept rides through the app. The Estonian company promises them:
“The greatest possible flexibility, more options and better turnover possibilities”
Bolt’s model resembles that of Uber: drivers are not employed, but use the platform to arrange rides. Bolt keeps part of the turnover for itself, namely 20%. At Uber, it’s generally 25%. Bolt is therefore cheaper than Uber, in Zurich at least.
Women can choose women
Drivers can be active on multiple platforms – i.e. providing rides for Uber, Bolt and a taxi company. But unlike Uber, Bolt drivers are not required to have their own car. The company also offers the option of connecting them with a car rental company, which makes a vehicle available to them.
Customers can choose different categories of vehicles in the application, the price of which varies: the standard category, the Premium category for higher value vehicles or the XL category for large groups.
The Bolt app also includes some so-called security features, as well:
- Bolt offers “Women for Women” optionwhich allows female customers to be driven by a woman.
- Location can be shared at any time with friends or family.
- Furthermore, if vehicles remain immobilized for too longthe company contacts the driver and passenger to find out what is happening.
It is allowed to judge the drivers
Unlike the Uber app, in which this function has been suspended in Switzerland, passengers can also rate drivers. If the rating falls below a permitted threshold, these may be blocked.
The Swiss director of Bolt, Patrick Frei, explains, in a press release, that the aim is to offer an attractive complement to public transport and an alternative to the individual car.
Where does this company come from?
Bolt was founded in 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia. The company recently achieved an annual turnover of just over 1.2 billion francs and indicates that it is active in 45 countries. In addition to electric scooters and bicycles and the ride-hailing service, Bolt offers food deliveries or carpooling in certain cities.
To compare, Uber achieved a turnover equivalent to nearly 34 billion francs in 2023 and was profitable last year for the first time in fifteen years.
Transport service intermediaries like Uber are regularly the subject of criticism, particularly from unions. Unia requires Uber to hire its drivers and pay them salaries and social security contributions, which several courts, notably in Geneva, would view favorably. Uber’s model is based “essentially on forced undeclared work” according to critical voices, the company attempts “to impose precarious working conditions as a new standard by circumventing the laws”.
Translated and adapted by Tanja Maeder
