Your say / Transport
‘Voi would be proud to return to rejoin a community we know and care about’
During Voi’s time in Bristol between 2020 and 2023, the city didn’t just host an e‑scooter trial – it helped define what modern micromobility can be.
Over those three years, people in the West of England took more than 12 million journeys on Voi scooters, and “to Voi” became part of the city’s everyday language.
The scheme became woven into daily routines: getting people to work quicker, getting students to lectures on time after snoozing their alarm or allowing people to just about make the last train home.
As the West of England prepares to choose a long‑term e‑bike and e‑scooter partner, I believe the next chapter can, and must, be the region’s best yet.
Christina Moe Gjerde is vice president for the Northern Europe region at Voi Technology – photo: Voi
First, Bristol is no ordinary city. It is a micromobility hub and a genuine innovation powerhouse, home to pioneers like Pure Electric, Bo and Supersmith.
This is the UK’s spiritual home of e‑scooters and micromobility, and a place where new ideas are tested in the real world, on real streets, by a community who care deeply about how their city moves.
Any operator coming here has to respect that heritage and be ready to raise the bar again.
Second, the novelty of shared e-scooters and e-bikes is over, and that is a good thing.
What began as a trial has quietly become essential infrastructure.
For many residents, e‑scooters and e-bikes are now a reliable, affordable way to connect to buses, trains and workplaces, and to live without a private car.
Micromobility is no longer a niche; it is a pillar of a resilient regional transport system, especially when rail or road networks are under pressure.
Could the coral-coloured e-scooters be making a return to Bristol? – photo: Mia Vines Booth
We also know we only scratched the surface last time.
With Voi’s latest e‑bike models alongside e‑scooters, we can now offer comfortable, longer inter‑town and inter‑city journeys across the wider West of England.
In Europe’s other leading micromobility cities like Oslo and Stockholm, more than half of all Voi journeys are combined with public transport, creating a genuinely joined-up alternative to car use.
With a permanent scheme here, Bristol and the West of England can match, and even surpass, that level of integration, building a seamless network of scooters, bikes and public transport that works together, not in competition.
The West of England Combined Authority’s updated transport plan, published a couple of months back, rightly puts micromobility at the heart of its future.
Moving from a trial to a long‑term scheme isn’t just a contractual change; it’s a chance to invest properly in parking, infrastructure and street design so the system works better for everyone – riders and non‑riders alike.
For me, success is not just counted in rides.
It looks like less clutter, safer streets, simpler connections and practical, everyday short trips that feel effortless.
It looks like a service that Bristolians trust, because it has been designed with them and for them.
At Voi, we would be proud to return, not just to operate a scheme, but to rejoin a community we know and care about, and to help write the West of England’s strongest micromobility chapter yet.
This is an opinion piece by Christina Moe Gjerde, vice president for the Northern Europe region at Voi Technology
Main photo: Betty Woolerton
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
