The study, which Lusa news agency had access to, was conducted on the occasion of Europe Day, celebrated on Saturday. The peak mobility time for ride-hailing services in Portugal is around 4 pm, while Bolt's electric scooters and bicycles reach their peak two hours later at 6 pm.

The data collected by the platform on Portuguese mobility patterns reveals a visible diversity in people's travel across the Iberian Peninsula, demonstrating that Portugal is a country whose mobility rhythms "are situated at one end of the European spectrum, earlier in the day, and whose cities have something concrete to teach about how multimodal transport works in practice."

Higher demand

According to the study, the pattern reflects the “wide range” of users of ride-hailing platforms, including “university students and even senior citizens”.

“With schedules typically ending between 5:30 pm and 6 pm, demand for ride-hailing services rises sharply in the mid-afternoon and gradually decreases throughout the night,” according to Bolt.

Midday accounts for 34% of all trips; the return home at the end of the day accounts for 19%; and nighttime activity accounts for 19%, one of the lowest values in Europe, comparable only to Romania, the study notes.

Role of micromobility

The study also demonstrates the role of micromobility (electric scooters and bicycles), highlighting that the two modes serve “two distinct moments of the same commute”.

Ride-hailing services (TVDE) take people home “when offices close,” while micromobility extends mobility into the late afternoon “by covering short trips, errands, and early evening commutes.”

Midday accounts for 31% of micromobility trips, and the return trip at the end of the day corresponds to 23% of the total.

Varied peaks

While TVDE peaks vary by many hours between different European countries, micromobility reveals a more consistent pattern, the study notes, adding that in almost all European markets where Bolt operates electric scooters and bicycles, “the micromobility peak occurs between 4 pm and 6 pm, regardless of when TVDE reaches its maximum.”

“This convergence suggests that micromobility fulfils the same role throughout Europe: late afternoon commutes, short trips, and the first and last kilometre. Portugal, with its peak ride-hailing service at 4 pm and micromobility at 6 pm, illustrates this complementarity particularly clearly,” the study states.

Including public transports3

For Bolt, this complementarity, which also includes public transport, “is a central argument in favour of an open and fully interconnected mobility ecosystem that seamlessly transitions between the various modes of transport.”

"These data remind us that European mobility is not one story, but many, happening at different times, on a continent of very diverse nations.

Portugal, with one of the earliest peaks in southern Europe, is as important a part of this picture as any other market. What these data demonstrate is that any structural change and evolution regarding European mobility policies must be based on concrete data and not on perceptions," said Mário de Morais, General Manager of Bolt in Portugal.

Bolt's analysis covered 24 European markets and revealed "a clear pattern: there is no single European mobility hour."

"Croatia peaks at 2 pm, Portugal at 4 pm, Spain at 8 pm, France at 11 pm, Belgium and the Netherlands only at midnight. A ten-hour difference between the countries with the earliest and latest peaks, all members of the European Union."