The same pass you use to access all public transportation in Lisbon, the Navegante, will allow you to use Bolt's bicycles and scooters for an additional 15 euros per month. In other words, to the 30 euros of the Navegante, an additional monthly fee is added for those who want 20 minutes a day in Bolt's vehicles to do the "last mile".
To benefit from this offer you must have the Navegante pass active on your Lisboa Viva card and fill out this online formwhich asks you for your cell phone number associated with the Bolt account and a photo proof of the pass. Then you will have to wait up to four working days for data validation, and from then on you will be able to buy the monthly Navegante with the extra daily minutes for use on Bolt bikes and scooters.
Combining a bicycle (or scooter) with public transportation makes the latter more competitive, since the bus, train, or subway doesn't always stop just outside your home, school, or workplace. This intermodality is common in cities where bicycling is more developed but it can also be seen in Lisbon, where there are already GIRA stations and parking lots for bicycles and scooters outside important interchanges and public transport stops and where you can see several passengers, especially on suburban trains, carrying their own bicycle or scooter.
Why not GIRA in the Navegante?
However, this relationship between Bolt and the Navegante Pass may be questioned, since it results from a partnership between a private operator, the Lisbon Metropolitan Transportsand the Lisbon City Hall. By allowing only the association of a certain commercial offer to the Navegante, a public pass and financed with the Environmental Fund PARTusers are limited to a single company, although other scooter brands such as Lime, Bird, or newcomer Link operate in the city. Lisbon's own municipality has a shared, public system, exclusively with bicycles, called GIRAwhich doesn't work with Navegante.
However, the intention of establishing a connection between GIRA and the city's public transport will be as old as the shared systemwhich was launched in the city at the end of 2017. In an interview two years ago with Jornal EconómicoLisbon's mobility councillor, Miguel Gaspar, said that the city council is open to integrating private operators in the transport pass - there has also been a partnership with Hive - but that this relationship would start with GIRA, which is managed by EMEL with the support of the municipality. "Last year [2018] we developed a service that allows you to ask whether or not a GIRA bike user has a valid [public transport] pass. This will allow us, when the system is fully functional, to positively discriminate who has the pass. Whoever has the public transport network pass will have more favorable access conditions to the GIRA bicycle network - that's the first integration step we're developing."said Miguel Gaspar. "Why isn't there a public transportation pass plus a few cab trips or bike or scooter trips? That's the conversation we've been having with the operators of these transports and we're trying to build this model."
A monthly GIRA pass costs 15 euros, while the annual pass costs only 25 euros - that's a little more than two euros per month. These are very competitive values, especially if you continue not to charge the fare per trip. For a public transportation user, GIRA could be included in the also affordable 30 euro Navegante. The Navegante allows you to ride on all modes of transportation in Lisbon, from buses to the subway, from trains to boats; the inclusion of GIRA in the pass could mean equating the bike-sharing system to public transportation, so that the use of GIRA would be free and unlimited like all other modes.
A pass that does not reach the whole city
To the PublicBolt's Santiago Páramo said "Lisbon will host a micromobility pass and we are extremely happy that this is going to happen" since not many European cities have it. However, Bolt's service is not available in every city, so this pass created in partnership with TML and the municipality will exclude many people who live or work in parishes such as Carnide, Benfica, Marvila, Beato, Olivais or Parque das Naçõesas shown on the map we share on the right. A source from Bolt explained to Lisboa Para Pessoas that "we want to provide a reliable service for all commuters in the city, and as such, in order to expand our operational area, we need to be able to ensure a minimum coverage of our vehicles in each area" and added that the areas not covered "are being considered for the expansion phase of service coverage".
It should also be noted that Bolt is not a pioneer in a micro-mobility pass, nor is it the first time that one exists in Lisbon. In May 2019Hive also made 20 minutes available to Lisboa Viva card holders (it wasn't necessary to have an active Navegante pass on the card); but the offer, which was free, only lasted until December of that year. Lisboa Para Pessoas also contacted EMEL to know more about a possible integration of GIRA in the Navegante, but has not received any answer so far.
