# When/if will Bolt expand in Australia?



## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Bolt only operate in Australia's two biggest cities being Sydney and Melbourne.

With the recent announcement from Ola regarding their continued expansion around Australia, it's looking like Ola will leave Bolt in the dust.

20 cities will have Ola by next year, while there will still only be 2 Australian cities that have Bolt.

Pretty poor management by Bolt all things considered, given they arrived in Australia before Ola did.


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## Miuipixel (Dec 2, 2019)

They can expand anywhere they wish but they are stingy and not advertising at all. It is in London but as soon as you go few miles out to suburbs they have no customers


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Miuipixel said:


> They can expand anywhere they wish but they are stingy and not advertising at all. It is in London but as soon as you go few miles out to suburbs they have no customers


So Ola and Bolt will be competing with each other in London too, interesting times ahead.

There was a name change from Taxify to Bolt this year, announcing it with a measly email to us drivers.

For what it's worth, Bolt tried to launch in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth last year and all launches were a FAIL.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Lien Left said:


> So Ola and Bolt will be competing with each other in London too, interesting times ahead.
> 
> There was a name change from Taxify to Bolt this year, announcing it with a measly email to us drivers.
> 
> For what it's worth, Bolt tried to launch in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth last year and all launches were a FAIL.


Taxify (as Bolt then was) advised me in January 2018 that they had no current plans to establish in Canberra: https://uberpeople.net/threads/taxify-has-no-plans-to-set-up-in-canberra.233854/.

They haven't at any stage (including last year) attempted to launch in Canberra.


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Jack Malarkey said:


> Taxify (as Bolt then was) advised me in January 2018 that they had no current plans to establish in Canberra: https://uberpeople.net/threads/taxify-has-no-plans-to-set-up-in-canberra.233854/.
> 
> They haven't at any stage (including last year) attempted to launch in Canberra.


I specifically remember Canberra being on their list of cities, when I was on their website signing up for them and they asked me to select my city.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Lien Left said:


> I specifically remember Canberra being on their list of cities, when I was on their website signing up for them and they asked me to select my city.


Fair enough (although that surprises me) but they never made any attempts beyond that to recruit drivers and never in fact launched in Canberra.

In particular, they never became an accredited transport booking service with the ACT Government: https://uberpeople.net/threads/accredited-transport-booking-services-in-the-act.363308/


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## ANTe (Aug 22, 2019)

It's more likely Bolt pull the plug and leave Australia altogether, given that barely any drivers go online anymore.


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Jack Malarkey said:


> Fair enough (although that surprises me) but they never made any attempts beyond that to recruit drivers and never in fact launched in Canberra.
> 
> In particular, they never became an accredited transport booking service with the ACT Government: https://uberpeople.net/threads/accredited-transport-booking-services-in-the-act.363308/


Interesting to know, and it's probably a similar story with Adelaide and Perth as well.

Brisbane on the other hand was actually listed as a 'Taxified' city on their website, so I'm not sure what went wrong with their attempted launch in Brisbane.


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

It sounds like Bolt are intent on launching in Brisbane, noting the use of 'when' rather than 'if' in this email.


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## Phantomagent (Jul 7, 2019)

Not with Didi coming. DIDI is allowing riders to sign up for Sydney so it entrance into the Sydney Market is not far off.


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Phantomagent said:


> Not with Didi coming. DIDI is allowing riders to sign up for Sydney so it entrance into the Sydney Market is not far off.


It won't take long for DiDi to overtake Bolt in Sydney, can they pose a threat to Ola in Sydney though?

They've failed to do so in Perth in their 3 months of operating there so far.


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## scalextric (Feb 19, 2018)

Lien Left said:


> It won't take long for DiDi to overtake Bolt in Sydney, can they pose a threat to Ola in Sydney though?
> 
> They've failed to do so in Perth in their 3 months of operating there so far.


I think DiDi's now in 7 cities (if you exclude the upcoming Sydney launch). Definitely the big ones i.e. Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. Is the consensus that they trail Ola I those cities or are they in 2nd place after Uber?


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

scalextric said:


> I think DiDi's now in 7 cities (if you exclude the upcoming Sydney launch). Definitely the big ones i.e. Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. Is the consensus that they trail Ola I those cities or are they in 2nd place after Uber?


DiDi are ahead of Ola in Melbourne and Brisbane, but they trail Ola in Perth.

Correct regarding DiDi operating in 7 cities, soon to be 8 cities with the upcoming Sydney launch.

Ola have announced further expansion around Australia too, and are planning to operate in every Australian city that Uber are operating in.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Lien Left said:


> Ola have announced further expansion around Australia too, and are planning to operate in every Australian city that Uber are operating in.


Perhaps Ola should get in ahead of Uber in larger cities such as Albury-Wodonga and Dubbo.

Any cross-border issues for Albury-Wodonga must surely be capable of resolution given that they've not been an impediment in Canberra-Queanbeyan.


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## Lien Left (Aug 28, 2019)

Jack Malarkey said:


> Perhaps Ola should get in ahead of Uber in larger cities such as Albury-Wodonga and Dubbo.
> 
> Any cross-border issues for Albury-Wodonga must surely be capable of resolution given that they've not been an impediment in Canberra-Queanbeyan.


I'm surprised that Uber don't already operate in Dubbo and Albury-Wodonga, to be honest.

Back on topic regarding Bolt, do you think there's a chance they'll expand in Australia beyond Sydney and Melbourne?


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Lien Left said:


> I'm surprised that Uber don't already operate in Dubbo and Albury-Wodonga, to be honest.
> 
> Back on topic regarding Bolt, do you think there's a chance they'll expand in Australia beyond Sydney and Melbourne?


I expect Bolt will slowly expand to Australia's other largest cities. Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast (combined) would seem to be the next logical choice.

They'd need to be careful not to alienate drivers the way they did in Sydney and Melbourne.


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## Neil in the middle (Nov 15, 2019)

Bolt can't come to Brisbane soon enough. They were ready to launch and even showed the other drivers around you when you went online. I'm not sure what went wrong but apparently Bolt coming to Brisbane is a matter of when not if.


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## ANTe (Aug 22, 2019)

Lien Left said:


> Ola have announced further expansion around Australia too, and are planning to operate in every Australian city that Uber are operating in.


Only to be followed by Uber going live in the entirety of NSW next month.
Ola screwed up their own launch in all 16 areas on this list too.


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## Neil in the middle (Nov 15, 2019)

Looks like this question has been answered. Never ever is the answer.


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## Wrenn (May 12, 2019)

Rip bolt never made it to Queensland either 😂


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## Neil in the middle (Nov 15, 2019)

Wrenn said:


> Rip bolt never made it to Queensland either &#128514;


Bolt looked after drivers better than Uber. It's a shame they had to leave Australia.


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## Wrenn (May 12, 2019)

Neil in the middle said:


> Bolt looked after drivers better than Uber. It's a shame they had to leave Australia.


Maybe they needed to be approved in more states to be financially viable?I applied late 18 and uploaded my documents and they kept saying they were negotiating with Queensland Transport to be approved to start operating here.


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