Not specific to bolt, most drivers have 2-3 apps at all time to maximize revenue
The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#22This is a random rant. I’ve been using Bolt for years almost every day, never had problems.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#23Had no issues with bolt so far tbh. But had issues with Uber drivers canceling a few times. I guess it all depends on the country and luck.
Same here, used it all the time in Portugal, worked great for rides.
However, tons of issues with using their scooters.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#24> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…
> "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?"
I have two people and four items of luggage plus a personal bag each. City trains are poor for this and subways are worse, but I am here for two weeks - I do need clean clothes.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#25It's more the drivers than the app. I know that in some countries drivers have found ways to play the hell out of Uber.
Trust me, it's not incompetence, the drivers absolutely know what they are doing.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having a train from the airport isn't a given in most US cities.
Lyon is not in the US.
True, but I think we can be charitable and forgive Americans for defaulting to "apps" versus actual infrastructure, given the poor state of public transportation in the US and the lack of exposure to quality publicly funded infrastructure.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#27Sadly I have encountered this on multiple different kinds of European tech platforms. There is some deep cultural disconnect on understanding how/why American tech companies are successful. Most often they seem to ape most of major US tech platforms functionality but critically somehow miss the "make something people want" and instead make something that: - Sort of works? Has all the major screens but the whole exper…
It's interesting to claim that tourism in Europe won't be "durable" at a moment when tourism in the US is sharply declining.. Anyway, Booking.com is a European company and has many more customers than AirBnB.
Apples and Oranges. Booking.com is an aggregator.
Also, Booking.com is unbelievably exploitative and rife with dark patterns.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#28So, it seems like there is some kind of national variance here? Bolt works well in Portugal, I've used it in Porto, Lisbon, and even Caldas da Rainha (smallish town an hour north of Lisbon). All told, we've taken more than a dozen trips, I think.
- Someone else says it's good in Portugal https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640459
- Someone says Malta is good, France is bad: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640424
- Someone says Northern Europe is fine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640369
- Another saying Denmark is fine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44640111
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#29How does Bolt retain customers? Why would they burn customers to get 1-3 x €7 fees? If OP's account is representative then wouldn't all the customers switch to Uber and never look back?
It doesn't make sense to me so it feels like there's relevant information is missing. From a quick search, it has a 4.8 on the Apple and Google store. So I'm leaning towards this being an isolated experience.
I've used Uber 100s of time. One time I had 2 drivers cancel on me back-to-back during a surge in the rain and one of them drive off forcing me to cancel and it was a very bad experience. But it's not a representative experience of my other rides.
Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone
#30> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…
> "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" I have two people and four items of luggage plus a personal bag each. City trains are poor for this and subways are worse, but I am here for two weeks - I do need clean clothes.
That sounds like a huge amount of luggage for just two weeks.