Bolt: Request a Ride

44 of 100 · reviews
4.8of 5 · store
173,604ratings on the App Store
98reviews read

An editorial reading of the saved reviews

Bolt works reliably where the driver network is dense (Spain, Portugal), but in Paris and France in general a trip becomes a lottery: drivers in a chain accept and then cancel the order. Pre-booking for trains should not be trusted to the app.

Screenshots

What people use it for

European travelers who are willing to have a backup plan for time-sensitive trips.

What reviews praise

In well-covered cities it is faster and cheaper than most competitors.

What reviews complain about

Drivers can accept an order, drive almost to the passenger, and cancel without consequences.
The system does not block this behavior.

What users experience

6 excerpts from the breakdown. These are individual cases, not a verdict on all users.

The wait times are so inaccurate! The app does not tell you when the drivers are dropping someone off first so it often happens that you wait significantly longer, which is horrible when you're late or need to get somewhere urgently.

Used Bolt many times during our stay in Paris. Had some great and some terrible experiences. What I didn't like was the constant cycling through drivers to accept the ride. Many times a driver would accept and then almost arrive and then we'd see our request sent to another driver and then another.

Booked a scheduled ride to a station. Bolt cancelled last-minute with no time to recover, and no app notification. We missed our train. Support apologized but offered nothing. Don't trust scheduled rides here for anything time-sensitive.

I had a really disappointing experience with this app. The estimated fare for my trip was RM39, but I was charged RM61. The driver did not start the trip when I got into the car and only marked it as started upon arrival. This clearly affected the fare calculation.

We would literally be at the stop and they would cancel the trip. No one turns the AC on even when we request it

Please remove those tips pop-ups, doesn't make sense showing me those asking for tips when I'm in the middle of the trip. Those are very annoying, you are taking from drivers 50% commission so reduce your margins and pay drivers well and don't ask for tips when I'm already paying higher rates.