If you're living in Bucharest, you know what heavy traffic means and how time-consuming it is... not to talk about air pollution. During the peak hours (that now molded into 10h intervals), you don't have any chance to get where you need in time. In the last years, many car ride-sharing companies have entered the Romanian market, but this doesn't seem to solve any traffic problems; you're not taking your car, but you're taking A car.
In this chaos, we still have a glimpse of hope: alternative transportation methods. Bucharest citizens seem to embrace them despite the not so friendly infrastructure. It's more efficient to rent a scooter or to combine it with public transportation (subway) than choosing any option implying a car. Moreover, this spring-like weather allows us to enjoy the ride and escape this traffic for a little longer.
In October 2019, Bucharest's scooter ride-sharing ecosystem got a new member and therewith, we got a new partner. Splash brought their own vision to this market and aroused our curiosity; we can see things from a rider's perspective, but how are things going on the other side... behind the app? We asked 10 questions to find out how Splash became a valuable player in such a short time, to see what were their challenges as a start-up and of course, to know how it feels to be part of the Twispay's merchant family.
Splash is the brush that paints the city. It's the ride-sharing service with scooters that are easy to use, fun to ride and hard to let go. Splash is not only an accessible means of transportation but also a tool to liven up people's day in a way no other activity can.
We wanted to bring diversity to the electric scooter market and we wanted to do it right. Walking along the streets of Bucharest, we realized there's not much color popping up. The buildings' design have historical importance, the streets are clean and people are dressed fashionably, sure, but the color palette of this beautiful city leaves you wanting for more. Well, in need of a fun visual stimulus combined with the practicality of fast transportation, Splash was born.
Fast and easy, just like the scooters! You download the app, create your account, top-up, find the nearest scooter from your location and Splash!
As we wanted the whole experience to be a fun process for the users, we looked for a payment processor that goes by the same easy-to-use theme of our brand, with a nice design and user-friendly interface.
Splash and Twispay go together like peanut butter and jelly, pretty much. It met the standards we set for our brand and, as if things weren't already going excellent, the integration went according to plan – of course, with a great deal of research behind it.
The pricing is somewhat similar to the other scooter services already existing on the market. It costs 3 lei (0,63 euro) to unblock the scooter and 50 bani (0,10 euro) per minute of riding.
We have a great vision for Splash and this comes with several benefits we want to integrate into the brand's presence. A juicer program is prepared and ready to go for the upcoming season, while we're also planning to place multiple charging stations. When practicality meets convenience, right?
This season we've launched our pilot program with 100 scooters and because we've exceeded our expectations with the traction that we had so far, we are ready to scale Splash to 1000 scooters starting from the next season.
It's always difficult bringing something new to the table in a market where people are already accommodated to the services/products, but we thought that it will never a better moment to add something else in the mix than now. We intended to raise the standard for the ride-sharing services, make it interesting, highly accessible and raise the bar as high as we can quality-wise.
Visibility is one of the most important factors when it comes to safety, so one important change we can implement is the installation of reflective signals at the front and back of the scooters, as well integrating turn signals to let the other traffic participants know what the next move is going to be. We believe that one single button can save everyone from a lot of distress.
We're glad to see that the combination of optimism, creativity, and hard work is still the central pillar for success. We thank Splash for being a pioneer of change and also for sharing these valuable insights that will surely bring some light to anyone interested in the scooter-sharing industry. We're happy to have members like this in our family!
And if you're also looking for a checkout process "with a nice design and user-friendly interface", you know the drill: write to us. 😉