Decline in Mobility Levels Observed

In the ride-hailing market of Russia, a significant drop in demand for e-scooter rentals has been observed during the summer season of 2025. This decline, amounting to a 6% year-on-year decrease, has left the largest e-scooter operator, Whoosh, grappling with a 14.7% year-on-year drop in revenue to 5.36 billion rubles in the first half of the year.

Whoosh's Financial Director, Andrei Siniawsky, has highlighted that the company had invested in infrastructure development and service quality improvement, counting on higher demand. However, the summer season results were significantly below business expectations. The decline in demand was more pronounced in Moscow, with a 10% drop year-on-year.

The average check for ride-hailing services, including e-scooters, increased nationwide by 13% year-over-year to 302 rubles, and in Moscow by 11% to 353 rubles. Despite this increase, it seems that it has not been enough to offset the decrease in the number of trips.

Regional regulation of the industry may also be contributing to the decrease in the number of e-scooter trips. In some cities, such as Perm, e-scooter services have suspended operations due to restrictions. In Blagoveshchensk, e-scooters have been banned outright from July 14.

Analysts at "Platform OFD" attribute the decrease in interest in e-scooters in the summer to poor weather in central Russia. Elena Varlamova, an expert and the director of the business and asset valuation practice at Neo, cites mobile internet outages due to security measures as the second problem.

Major players in the ride-hailing market, including e-scooter operators, are adjusting their financial models due to the decrease in demand. Whoosh reported a net loss of 1.9 billion rubles compared to a profit of 259 million rubles in the previous year. Mrs. Varlamova suggests that administrative and operational expenses should be cut first to help stop the losses in the industry.

However, she predicts that the losses may stop growing due to process optimization and cost reduction. It's unlikely that the summer decline can be made up in September-October, but she anticipates that the industry may stabilize in the coming months.

In a positive note, "MTS Jurent" stated that the number of trips through their service increased by 42% year-on-year to 54.2 million in the first half of the year, although they did not disclose their financial results.

The e-scooter market in Russia, which grew 12 times from 2020 to 2024 and revenue increased by 30% year-over-year in 2024, seems to have faced an unexpected challenge. Experts suggest that understanding and addressing these issues will be crucial for the recovery of the market.