Frequently asked questions for the Voi Travel at Work trial. If you can not find the answer to your question, please contact travel@admin.cam.ac.uk
The pilot scheme will provide a free ride credit code to be added to your Voi App wallet. This will enable 2 x 30-minute ride credits and unlock fees for an e-bike or e-scooter allowing a return trip to be made. Any minutes used beyond the 30-minute value will be charged to the user’s payment card. Please monitor your own usage, as any additional minutes over the ride credit value are not claimable from the University or Departments.
The Voi Vehicles will be available for hire 24hrs. Travel at work ride credits are not restricted by time of use, as some departments might be working at various hours of the working day.
Voi and the University recommend you wear one when travelling on a Voi e-bike and e-scooter, similar to your own bike. The University will not be providing helmets as part of the pilot. Helmets are available to purchase from Voi Technology Webshop.
Voi has outlined that:
• Regular cleaning and disinfecting will take place at least every 24 hours.
• Customer support will be available 24/7 (86% of requests are handled within 60 minutes).
You must always follow the Government guidance on staying Covid safe.
You can ride it on roads, cycle lanes and in authorised shared spaces. You cannot ride it on pavements. Anyone found to be riding on pavements will receive a strike on their account. On the third strike, the user’s account will be banned. Voi also reserves the right to block accounts outright for poor riding behaviour.
The Voi app also clearly shows no ride zones that you will not be able to enter when using the Voi vehicle. If you do enter these zones, the e-bike or e-scooter will gradually slow down until you are nearly stopped and have returned the vehicle to a ride zone.
The University does not allow the riding of any scooters within any of the colleges or certain areas within sites. A map will be made available to you through the Voi app and this will make it clear where you can and cannot go, and where the parking locations are. The Voi e-bikes and e-scooters are geo-fenced, which means you will not be able to take them beyond the geo-fenced area.
No. The use of personal e-scooters on roads is not legal and not permitted on the University Estate. The reason that e-scooters are permitted in Cambridge is related to a change in Government legislation to enable a UK trial to take place. The UK Government amended legislation to legalise the use of e-scooters - under controlled conditions - as part of a rental scheme trial which rolled out in selected locations, nationwide. The University of Cambridge supports that trial through our relationship with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. The purpose of the Travel at Work trial is to develop learning so, at the end of the trial, our University learnings will be collated and shared with Voi and other University or business users including the Department for Transport.
There is advice in the app about how to park properly. Park the e-bike/e-scooter where it’s accessible for other users (never indoors or in a courtyard) and in a location that does not block pathways, accessibility ramps, driveways, crosswalks, or cars. At the University of Cambridge, mandatory parking zones are in place; users must park their Voi e-bike/e-scooter in these designated zones, otherwise they will be unable to end their ride. There are also a few designated no-park zones where parking will not be permitted; this information will be communicated via the in-app map.
No-park zones are indicated in red in the Voi app. A rider will be unable to end their ride in a no-park zone. If the rider abandons the Voi vehicle in a no-park zone, an on-the-ground Voi staff member will retrieve the Voi e-bike/e-scooter. The rider will be charged £25 for the infraction. For more information about parking, read Voi's guide to parking.
Geofencing is a technology that uses GPS to create a virtual geographic boundary, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area. When an e-scooter goes beyond a certain boundary, the e-scooter’s speed will reduce gradually until stopping. Voi do not stop the e-scooter’s motor completely, because this could be dangerous for the rider. In a no-ride zone, the motor is slowed to 3 mph (walking pace). It is not put to zero, because we want to make it easier for users to return the scooter back to the operating zone. In a slow-ride zone, the scooters are capped at 5 mph. Users can see their locations and operating zone within the in-app map.
For the Voi e-bikes, the pedal assist feature will shut off at 12.5mph and on the e-scooters, the speed is capped at 12.5mph. For beginners,
e-scooter speeds can be capped at 10 mph. This is adjustable by the user within your Voi App after completing the training and before every ride. The e-scooter automatically reduces your speed in select areas (slow-speed zones in the map) down to 5 mph. The geofencing technology is built into the e-scooters and will automatically start to slow the speed as the e-scooter approaches a new speed limit zone. This means you will experience a gradual reduction in speed as you approach these areas, rather than a sudden change.
No they are not permitted on trains or buses.
No. The Voi e-bikes and e-scooters are property of Voi, and they are part of a public rental scheme. Misuse of these vehicles can lead to fines, bans, or other forms of prosecution
Voi will have a team able to respond to reports and will be putting a reporting mechanism in place for anyone to report on rogue riders. Should you see someone disregarding the rules, you can report their location and the time you saw them with the vehicle’s 4 character code. Voi’s geofencing technology will then be able to identify which e-bike or e-scooter was hired. The e-bike or e-scooter will be matched to the individual who hired the vehicle, and they will be directly notified by Voi. The terms of compliance are made very clear to individuals hiring the e-bike or e-scooters and agreement with the terms and conditions is mandatory before hire can be activated. Users can also contact their department lead to report any e-bike or e-scooter misuse they witness, and the project lead will work with Voi to investigate and take action.
Voi takes riding safely and legally very seriously. If Voi receives a confirmed report of an offence from the police, then Voi will always seek to take action against the rider responsible, such as issuing a warning or permanently removing the user from the service. To do this, Voi will ask the police for supporting information, including the date, time, and place of the offence, and, if possible, the e-bike/e-scooter’s reference code.
Safety is the number-one priority. Voi is continually working with its partner cities and regions, including Cambridge area, to assess and improve services. In the UK Voi is introducing new measures to ensure safe riding:
- Increasing the number of on-the-ground staff to answer questions, help people, and monitor activity.
- Increase collaboration with the police to ensure there is better reporting of riders who flout the rules.
- Reinforce the message that e-scooters (just like bikes) should NOT be ridden on the pavements.
- Introduce clear number plates on e-scooters to help identify rogue riders. Increase riding education.
- Giving away free helmets.
- Introduce greater deterrents to unsafe riding:
- Charge users a premium for abandoning or parking a scooter in a no-parking zone.
- Block users who are abusing the licensing rules, such as enabling underage riders.
- Anyone caught using e-scooters illegally could face criminal proceedings. For misuse, 6 points could be added to a user’s driving licence.
Riding on pavement is illegal in the UK and education plays an important role in making sure that users abide by the rules. Our free online traffic school, Ride Like Voila, teaches users the rules of the road and rewards users with ride vouchers when they complete modules. We actively communicate to riders that they should never ride on pavement throughout their journey, from in-app communications during the onboarding flow, through to ongoing road safety communications.
Users have a huge responsibility, not only towards themselves but towards other road users and pedestrians. Voi has developed an in-app reaction-time test that is activated during certain hours of the day when people are likely to be drinking. The test aims to educate users on why drunk riding is unsafe (impacts reflexes, balance, overall judgement), and to encourage them to consider alternative modes of transport if they get poor results in the cognitive test. Voi can also implement no-parking zones in areas with bars and nightlife to discourage scooter use.
Pavement riding is strictly prohibited. If someone is caught riding a Voi e-bike or e-scooter on the pavement by a Voi ambassador, the ambassador would complete a reporting form and issue a strike or a block to the user (a rider is usually blocked on the third strike, unless the infraction is serious). If the offending rider is caught by the police, the police report the incident to Voi ambassadors, who will carry out the strike or ban policy noted above.
Safety is Voi’s top priority, and there are many resources available to riders. Voi recommends all users complete Ride Like Voila, its online traffic school. Voi regularly sends users safety information via its app, and publishes regular safety content on the blog, such as recent articles about e-scooter safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and safety initiatives in the U.K. There is also a comprehensive FAQ on the Voi website that includes safety information. If a user has specific questions, they can contact support at support@voiapp.io.
Voi arranges insurance for both business trips and personal trips. Therefore if an accident occurred, it would be Voi insurance arrangements that would deal with the claim. The University of Cambridge liability policy provides cover for the user when travelling on work purposes. However, the policy will only be triggered should the University of Cambridge be deemed liable for an accident. As the scooters are maintained by Voi and Voi are providing insurance for work travel and personal travel, the claim should be reported to Voi insurers in the first instance.