More about scooters, motorcycles and cars – in the GAZAS.LT section.
Still in 2020 In Kaunas, “Bolt” (with sponsors “Dynamit”) initiated a helmet distribution campaign for scooters in order to accustom users to this safety relic.
But you can’t share them all. Therefore, this year in Vilnius, 600 helmets were hung on Bolt scooters, which users had to share. Not to take it home, but after using it, to place it together with the scooter.
The initiative was taken when the Seimas considered amendments to the Law on Safe Traffic for Cars on Roads, which aim to introduce the mandatory wearing of helmets for users of micro-mobility devices, such as electric scooters and electric bicycles. It is planned that helmets will be attached to about a thousand scooters in Vilnius by the end of May.
How does it work?
In the city of Vilnius, drivers starting a trip on a scooter see a prompt to wear a helmet in the “Bolt” app, if it is attached to the scooter, and at the end of the trip, they receive a reminder to attach the helmet to the scooter again so that another driver can use it.
What are the results of this initiative after a month?
Benas Jurlovas, head of operations for Bolt’s sharing services in Lithuania, said that as soon as the helmet pilot project began, he noticed that some helmets were disappearing. hygiene. The hygiene of helmets in the city of Vilnius is monitored both by the special team of “Bolt Patrol”, which takes care of the orderly use of electric scooters and bicycles in the city, and by the employees of our vehicle warehouse”, commented the representative of “Bolt”.
Bolt photo/Ben Jurlovas, head of operations of Bolt sharing services in Lithuania
A month later, the company counted the remaining helmets. In less than a month, 80 percent of people in Vilnius disappeared. these security measures.
This happened less than four weeks after helmets were added to 600 electric scooters in Vilnius. according to the company, nearly 500 have gone missing. The company plans to roll out several hundred more scooters with helmets to the city by the end of May and hopes that scooter users will treat them more responsibly.
“When we started this initiative, we anticipated that a certain proportion of helmets might be lost, but we did not expect such a rapid loss of helmets. We understand that an e-scooter user may even simply forget that the helmet is still on their head at the end of the journey – we know this has definitely happened and we are grateful to everyone who returned to the scooter and returned the helmet. Unfortunately, these are isolated cases, and the majority – 80%. helmets are missing, probably lost or simply stolen”, Benas Jurlovas, head of operations of Bolt’s sharing services in Lithuania, shares his calculations.
“Happily, cases of irresponsible or malicious behavior involving shared scooters are extremely rare. It’s true, considering the disappearance of several hundred helmets, it’s clear that we still have to cultivate the understanding of mutual respect and care for the property shared by many people,” says B. Jurlov.
Bolt’s representative adds that neither the company’s customer service specialists nor the team that takes care of safe and orderly e-mail. in the use of bicycles and scooters in Vilnius, did not detect and have no knowledge of damaged helmets.
“With this pilot project, we aim to understand whether consumers would be inclined to wear helmets and whether the requirement proposed by the parliamentarians could be implemented, and the fact that a large number of helmets have disappeared somewhat complicates our ability to assess these trends.” Since several hundred more scooters with helmets will appear in Vilnius, we strongly encourage scooter users and other residents to treat these helmets responsibly,” says B. Jurlov.
The “Bolt” electric scooter sharing service currently operates in 14 cities, and electric bicycles can be rented in Vilnius and Kaunas.
PS A simple helmet for a scooterist/cyclist costs 25-35 EUR in different retail chains.
