Estonian taxi service Bolt, already operating in St. Petersburg, will launch a franchise program in Moscow and Russian regions to expand its services. The company plans to find one partner per country, but may consider working with several suppliers in different cities.

In exchange for a percentage of the proceeds, Bolt partners will be able to use its brand and develop one or more services: taxis, food delivery, e-scooter and e-bike rentals. They also plan to do marketing for customer support, hiring drivers and couriers, the company added.

Bolt (up to March 2019 Taxify) was created in 2013 as a taxi aggregator, entered the food delivery market in July 2019, and launched e-bike rental in July 2020. Of the Russian cities, the taxi service is still operating only in St. Petersburg.

According to the Moscow Department of Transport, Yandex.Taxi accounts for 70.8% in the capital, and Citymobil has another 20.2%.

According to a report by analysts from Bank of America, the cost of taxi rides in Russia for the largest online aggregators by the end of 2020 increased by 50-70% compared to May-June. In Moscow and the regions, prices increased by an average of 56% for Yandex.Taxi and 68% for Citymobil.

Original (in Russian)