Ride Safe, Park Smart: Voi launches UK multi-channel brand campaign to encourage safe riding

Today we are launching our multi-channel brand campaign to encourage riders across the UK to Ride Safe, Park Smart and always wear a helmet.

The bright coral ads will be visible across multiple formats, including kiosks and large and small billboards across nine Voi locations: Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool, Northampton, Oxford, Portsmouth and Southampton. The ads also feature a code for new riders in the UK to get £3 off their first ride by entering ‘RIDESAFE3’ into the Voi app.

Voi will also continue to roll out its online and in-person safety events across the cities where it has trials, giving away free helmets to participants, distributing flyers and adding new hangers with safety messages to its scooters.

To join one of the in-person safety events, click here.

Jessica Hockey, Senior Manager, Partnerships & Marketing UK & Ireland at Voi Technology, said: “Safety is at the heart of all our marketing activity and the goal of this large scale, multi-channel campaign is to ensure our riders have these key safety messages at the top of their mind at all times.”

Jack Samler, General Manager at Voi UK and Ireland, said: “People in the UK have embraced Voi’s e-scooters with more than 3.5 million rides taken so far. Whether it’s riding to work, running errands or visiting friends and family, we’re committed to ensuring all riders know the rules of the road and are safe when they’re on the move. We hope everyone will see and absorb our new ad campaign over the next few weeks and remember to ride safe, park smart and wear a helmet every time they take a Voi e-scooter.” 

The Ride Safe, Park Smart campaign is part of Voi’s commitment to constantly look for opportunities to improve rider safety. Safety features include the ‘Reaction test’ to discourage users from riding under the influence of alcohol, or the ‘Helmet Selfie’, which uses an image-classifier AI that can immediately detect if a user is wearing a helmet with 95% accuracy. Helmet-wearers are rewarded with five loyalty points at the end of their ride, which can go towards discounted rides.

Another safety innovation is the ‘Parking Photo, which requires users to take and submit a photo of their parked e-scooter to encourage good parking behaviour. Riders who fail to park correctly receive a warning in the first instance, and following that, a fine is imposed.

We are also working closely with disability associations, including the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB), to ensure the needs of vulnerable groups are heeded during the UK trials. Recently Voi started to test e-scooter sounds in Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol, and RNIB redesigned parking racks have been installed in Birmingham and Southampton, with more waiting to be placed in other trial areas. A recent study from the Norweigan Institute for Transport Economics found that dedicated parking spots for shared e-scooters can help solve pavement clutter.

Ride safe.

Park smart.