Voi launches e-scooter service in Germany’s former capital Bonn

Bonn, Germany’s former capital has now become the 17th German city to welcome Voi’s shared micro-mobility service. Our coral-coloured fleet of e-scooters was distributed through the city overnight and ready for rent from 4 and our e-scooters will be available to rent as of today 4th March 2022. 

Our motto for this launch in Bonn is “Ride it right”.Through educational work and safety measures, Voi strives to incentivise safety, and ensure responsible riding and parking. 

Voi’s shared e-scooters have been around in Germany for almost three years and, during this time, more and more people are choosing electric scooters as a mode of transport, despite the pandemic, colder weather and a decline in tourism. 

Stephan Boelte, Regional General Manager DACH and Eastern Europe at Voi says: “We believe that Bonn is a city with great potential for e-scooter sharing. Not only because of the well travelled commuter route, but also in residential areas and throughout the inner city circuit. We are the most popular sharing provider in Germany, servicing most daily rides in the industry, and we want to use this advantage in the city and expand it further. In doing so, our first priority is road safety.”

E-Scooter safety training

As part of its Vision Zero, Voi has committed to preventing all serious incidents involving e-scooters from 2030 onwards. To raise awareness and create an opportunity for the people in Bonn to learn how to ride e-scooters under safe supervision, Voi is hosting Bonn’s first local safety training in April.

Digital driving school

In addition to our in-site training sessions, and In order to familiarise riders with the rules of parking and other traffic regulations, Voi has developed a digital driving school, called RideLikeVoila, for e-scooter riders. It is similar to the theoretical part of a driving test and covers topics such as right of way, safe driving, consideration for other riders, parking etc. More than 200,000 riders across Germany have already taken part in it. 

Voi’s Reaction Test

Between certain hours, anyone in Bonn who wants to ride a Voi scooter must first take a Reaction Test, before starting the ride. The Reaction Test shows up as a new screen in the Voi app and it displays rapidly appearing and fading symbols that have to be tapped. This safety feature is activated from Thursday to Saturday between 22.00 hrs and 05.00 hrs the following day.

Voi’s Parking Photo facility

To enable safe and responsible parking of e-scooters, Voi verifies the last parking location of the scooters through photographic evidence after every ride: riders have to upload a Parking Photo of their parked e-scooters on the Voi app. The pictures are then analysed by the Voi team and riders of incorrectly parked e-scooters receive warnings, and can even  be banned from riding Vois if they are found to be parking incorrectly more than once.

Safe scooters

In Bonn, Voi is launching fourth-generation scooters of its own in-house design. Known as Voiager 4, these scooters are equipped with turn indicators, optimised braking systems and road grip and they have a life expectancy of more than five years.  In addition, Voiager 4 is equipped with swappable batteries that are changed on the spot, avoiding trips to warehouses and, therefore, supporting greener operations.