Two years on since Voi first launched its rentable e-scooters in Bristol, the scheme has proven popular with pedestrians keen to avoid the city’s hills and get from A to B quickly - but their use still remains divisive among road users. So it came as little surprise when the announcement that a new operator may take over Voi’s contract for the West of England sparked a huge response among our readers.
Hundreds of commenters on our Facebook page debated if Voi had earned the right to stay on, if a rival operator should move in instead, or if the scheme should simply be scrapped for good. More than 280,000 people have used Voi’s e-scooters in the West of England, totalling a whopping 6,000,000 journeys since the trial started.
But the West of England combined authority is looking for a potential new operator, or group of operators, to take over the e-scooter scheme on a long-term contract. Voi can still bid for the new contract and, in the event that it is unsuccessful, will continue the current e-scooters until the new contract is awarded so that there is no gap in the service.
