Are E-Scooters Invading Sofia?
The short answer is no. Yet, recently we see an increasing number of e-scooter riders in the city. Meanwhile, there have been some rumors on big brands entering the market, but also local startups willing to try out the tasty business model. So we decided to dig into the topic and look into several aspects.
What’s allowed
“There are currently two main challenges. The first is related to the number of e-scooters per city. Too many vehicles could cause chaos on the roads and violate the safety of other road users. In the same time, we need a plan to organize the way the e-scooters are parked, and they are not just scattered on the sidewalks,” tells us on the phone municipality counselour Zafir Zarkov, who is actively involved in the process and just came back from Vienna, Europe’s e-scooter hotspot, where his team exchanged some experience. There will be over 200 parking spots downtown Sofia, the speed limit will probably be 25 km/h. Here’s everything we learned.
Who will provide them
Since the beginning of the year, three of the well-known e-scooter shared services brands have expressed interest in entering the Bulgarian market and Sofia in particular. There is no clear statement by a particular brand, yet, looking at the regional expansion of brands, we can suspect that one of them will be … well here’s the whole piece.
Who is Hobo?
By the beginning of September Sofia will have also a Bulgarian e-scooter service. Alongside with the expectations for a foreign provider like Lime, Tier & Co, the Bulgarian startup Hobo is also preparing to launch. The founders have chosen an e-scooter that can survive the Sofia roads and is planning to offer monthly passes. Learn more.
