Bolt drivers working in Liverpool will have to be locally registered rather than getting cheaper and quicker licences elsewhere, its boss has confirmed. Estonian company Bolt, which launched 2,000 e-scooters across the city in February, last week expanded its offer to include private cars.
As part of its Bolt Flex programme, the firm will allow passengers to access the new service through the existing Bolt app. Riders and drivers will also be able to propose their own price and agree the fare for a journey directly.
Expansion after e-scooter success
Kimberly Hurd, senior general manager at Bolt UK & Ireland, told the ECHO the success of the e-scooter launch earlier this year had encouraged the firm to move forward with its new offering.
Unlike some private hire drivers who have been seen operating around Liverpool with plates from council areas like Wolverhampton, Ms Hurd confirmed Bolt would ask its drivers to comply with the city council’s taxi policies.
When the active travel service launched in February, Liverpool was selected as the first location in the UK to receive Bolt’s solar-assisted shared e-bikes, each fitted with an integrated solar panel to extend battery life. This allowed users to access vehicles in the south of the city for the first time.
Local licensing and market competition
Bolt took over from Voi six months ago after Voi’s almost five years in operation in partnership with Liverpool Council, following the closure of its CityBike scheme. The coral-coloured vehicles became a regular sight on city streets following the adoption of a UK government trial which has been extended on multiple occasions since 2021. They have since been replaced by Bolt’s striking green bikes and scooters.
Explaining why Bolt had chosen to launch its new taxi scheme in the city, Ms Hurd said: “(It’s) really off the back of our success in launching scooters and bikes in Liverpool, Liverpool has always been in the plans.
“I think with the uptake and the demand that we’re seeing on our micromobility and our rentals side of the business, we knew that there’d be a natural fit. We’ve also heard quite a lot of feedback from drivers in all of the surrounding areas as well as Liverpool.
“We’ve been getting feedback on bolt flex, as our product and their views on it, and we knew that drivers in particular were interested in the flat, transparent commissions, the ability to set their own prices, so we knew that it would be a fit from there as well.”
Unique offer in a competitive market
The taxi and ride-hailing sector is a competitive market in Liverpool, with big name players such as Alpha and Delta duking it out for custom with Uber alongside traditional hackney cabs. Ms Hurd said while Bolt was not looking to ruffle any feathers, the Estonian company did have a unique offer for passengers.
She said: “I think competition is good but we’re offering something quite different in the market. No-one else is offering that in market, but the way we work with both drivers and also in the community is we have hubs where we’re routinely open, we currently have one even now where drivers come in, they’re able to ask questions, we’re able to help either troubleshoot, points in app or questions they have on the product itself and we continue to do that, not just as part of launch, but an ongoing basis.”
It was revealed last year how almost 500 private hire licences were granted to drivers with Liverpool postcodes by Wolverhampton Council in 2024. In the same year, 96% of all taxi licences issued in the West Midlands city were outside of their own jurisdiction.
Compliance and passenger experience
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, said “hardworking” city cabbies are being “undercut” by those drivers. Ms Hurd explained Bolt’s policy on how its drivers would operate.
She said: “We don’t encourage drivers on where they get their licenses. What we do is have a fully compliant platform, so they need to maintain all local compliance regulations as do we.
“We’ve already been live in Liverpool since February with our scooters and with our bikes and we’ve been working very closely with the city on that.” The scheme is already up and running in Knowsley, alongside Chester, Greater Manchester and other major UK cities.
Ms Hurd gave the ECHO a flavour of the changes passengers would expect to see. She said: “We have a very large user base already in Liverpool, so as soon as they open up their apps, they’ll also see the ability to book a taxi, so that’s really sort of the main change.
“Anybody who downloads the app would have the ability to either rent a scooter or use a scooter as much as be able to hail a taxi. We really do believe that the two actually work quite nicely hand in hand.
“For shorter journeys our micro mobility really works, when the weather’s pretty tough taxis are right there and available and for longer distances getting home at night, taxis provide a much safer journey. It’s more about what each consumer segment wants.
“As a great example, we’ve obviously been through a really significant heat wave, and a heat wave, no matter what the distance is our users would prefer getting into a taxi. If it’s raining the same, and so it’s not about distance, it’s really about sort of what our users most want.”
