This year, on top of scooters, Bolt has introduced a short-term rental of electric bicycles in Vilnius. However, some residents say this creates even more chaos in the city. According to the police, parking rental bikes and scooters incorrectly can in some cases be considered a violation of the road traffic rules.
At the beginning of March, Bolt started its electric scooter season, also introducing electric bike rental in Vilnius. This service has been available in Kaunas since 2022.
However, not everyone is happy about this new option for travelling around Vilnius, pointing out that bikes are often left on the sidewalks and get in the way of pedestrians.
“Bicycles are slightly bigger than scooters and take up more space. Unfortunately, once people use bikes, they drop them anywhere. They obstruct passage for pedestrians, not to mention parents with strollers, people with disabilities, or senior citizens. Since this is Bolt’s property, they should feel responsible for keeping the city tidy,” a Vilnius resident Rolandas told LRT.lt.
Violating rules
On September 1 last year, special parking spaces for electric scooters were introduced in four districts of Vilnius – the Old Town, part of Naujamiestis, Užupis, and Šnipiškės.
In total, 120 locations for leaving electric scooters were designated and marked with special rectangular signs in Vilnius.
Further reading
However, it seems that the problem of electric scooters, and now bikes, obstructing pedestrians’ passage has not disappeared.
According to Jorūnė Liutkienė, a representative of the Police Department, cases where a large number of electric micro-mobility vehicles obstruct pedestrian traffic can be treated as a violation of the road traffic rules. However, each situation is assessed on an individual basis.
“In such cases, it may be a violation of the rule, which stipulates that stopping and parking is prohibited where the vehicle would obstruct traffic lights or road signs, entry or exit to or from a parking lot, parking space, garage, yard, obstruct the boarding of another vehicle, or otherwise obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic,” Liutkienė said.
According to her, such a violation could be punishable by a fine of between 30 and 60 euros.
Taking measures
LRT.lt also asked Bolt about its rental scooters and bikes being left on pedestrian sidewalks. Ignas Kizelevičius, senior operations specialist at Bolt, said that the company’s customer app has a system in place to encourage all users to park their rented vehicles in an orderly manner.
“After each trip, the user of the micro-mobility vehicle must take a photo showing how they have parked the electric bike or scooter. The AI solution evaluates the photo and alerts the user if the vehicle is not parked correctly. If the users’ behaviour does not change after two warnings, their access to the micro-mobility rentals is blocked,” he explained.
The Bolt representative also noted that there is a special team working in Vilnius, which repositions scooters and bikes that are not parked correctly by the users.
According to him, the newly introduced electric bikes must also be parked only in special parking spaces in the centre of Vilnius. The company hopes that more such places will be available in the city in the near future.
“The Vilnius City Council decides on the special places where electric scooters and bicycles can be parked. We would be happy to see more such places. We have now submitted a proposal to create 100 additional parking zones in Vilnius city centre,” Kizelevičius said.
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