There’s a new ride-hailing app in town, but it’s no startup.
Hopp made its North American debut when it launched in parts of the GTA on Feb. 11.
The new arm of Bolt, Europe’s largest mobility services platform, is betting it can break Toronto’s — and eventually the country’s — Uber-Lyft duopoly by offering price transparency, lower-cost rides and better pay for drivers.
Unlike competitor platforms, which don’t disclose the difference between what riders pay and what drivers earn, Hopp charges a flat 15 per cent commission giving drivers the rest after taxes and fees.
“What we’ve seen in the market is a decoupling of these two things, so the price the rider pays doesn’t easily translate to what the driver earns,” says Hopp general manager David Riggs. “That means there’s not a good line of sight on what people charge, which gives competitors the opportunity to charge more.”
Bolt has succeeded in more than 600 cities and is market leader in 20 of the 50 nations in which they operate.
Riggs says he was tapped to oversee the company’s first North American expansion because of his eclectic resume.
While studying commerce at Memorial University, the Newfoundland-native interned in human resources for Husky Energy, and in public policy for the federal government in Ottawa.
After three-and-a-half years at RBC — in a rotational program, trading floor, and CEO’s office — Riggs joined friends as COO to launch Milk Moovement, a tech platform that helps farmers streamline the dairy supply chain in Canada, the United States and Australia.
“Bolt really represented the best of both worlds,” he says. “It’s got the backing of a very large company, a lot of people to learn and grow with, a lot of resources, but at the same time there’s a lot of autonomy, because we’re responsible for operating the Canadian market.”
Since its launch in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill earlier this year — during the region’s largest snow event in recent memory — the service expanded to Brampton in early April, ironically during another snowstorm.
Despite weather-related challenges, Riggs says Hopp has outpaced expectations and is already facilitating tens of thousands of rides a day for more than 85,000 active users in Toronto.
“We have thousands of daily active drivers and tens of thousands of drivers who are looking to earn using our platform, so traction has been really good.”
The Star recently caught up with Riggs at Hopp’s Canadian office in Toronto to discuss expansion plans for Ontario, how it hopes to beat the competition and why Canadians should trust the Estonian brand over U.S. alternatives.
What is Hopp?
We’re a European ride sharing alternative with real roots in Canada.
Hopp is owned by Bolt, which is the largest European super mobility app. It’s got a large global footprint across 50 countries, but previously wasn’t active in North America. The trademark for “Bolt” is owned by Chevrolet in North American, but outside the name everything is the same.
The company was founded in Estonia, and Toronto is home to one of the largest populations of Estonian expats — the city just announced a new Estonian cultural centre — so they have a strong connection with Canada.
As of right now we are operational in the GTA, and we’ve also launched a micro-mobility vertical in Washington DC; think scooters and e-bikes. As an organization we operate in a lot of the typical transportation verticals, whether that’s ride sharing — which is the backbone of the organization — food and grocery delivery, car rentals or micro-mobility, but in North American it’s just ride sharing in the GTA and micro mobility in DC.
Why do you think you were chosen to establish the brand in Canada?
Launching a new market required skills across a lot of different functional units; there’s obviously the operations side, but there’s a lot of work in product development, engineering, human resources, legal, privacy and public policy, and I’ve had some experience in most of those areas. I think for Hopp I checked a lot of boxes.
Why did Hopp choose Toronto as its first stop in North America?
We saw an opportunity for more competition in the Toronto market specifically and the Canadian market more broadly, as well as the opportunity to be a good partner within those communities by offering more affordable transportation to riders and higher earnings for drivers.
We’ve seen our model work globally, and there wasn’t much competition in the Canadian market, but there is a large market, and we felt we could provide greater value than the alternatives.
What makes Hopp unique?
What makes us different is how we work with our drivers to be stronger partners to that community and provide more value to riders.
One of the great things about Hopp is our transparent commissions; we charge 15 per cent on rides, and the existing competitors have much higher rates.
By taking less on our side, we pass those savings on in the form of cheaper rides for riders and higher earnings for drivers.
What do the others charge?
Historically speaking it’s around 25 per cent, but there’s been a decoupling of fees and earnings, so it’s hard to say, and that’s where the opaqueness comes in.
What about surge pricing?
We surge up to two times the price, but the same structure applies; 85 per cent goes to the driver, 15 per cent comes to us.
I can’t comment on what our competitors are up to, but we’re transparent on both sides.
What has the last year been like in preparation for launch?
I started in May of 2024, so almost exactly a year, and it’s been exciting.
A lot goes into launching a new country. We have a fantastic team in Toronto that’s growing quickly and great support at our headquarters in Europe.
It’s been a lot of fun working with stakeholders to understand the product and then adapting it to the local market.
We spent a lot of time liaising with local stakeholders, whether it’s the municipality to make sure we’re fully licensed, compliant and doing everything we can to be a good partner, or airports to get set up there, or local advocacy groups and drivers’ communities.
We’ve also spent a lot of time hiring and onboarding the local team that’s down the hall from me, and they’re responsible for bringing the product to market while exploring opportunities for future expansion.
It’s been about borrowing best practices from other places, working with local stakeholders to adapt the product for this market, and then ultimately launching, which we did on Feb. 11.
What has the reception been like so far?
Right now, we’re doing tens of thousands of trips every single day, and considering it’s only been two months here in the city, having a five-digit number of trips every day is great.
Similarly, on the driver side, we have thousands of daily active drivers and tens of thousands of drivers who are looking to earn using our platform, so traction has been good in that sense; we’re well ahead of where we wanted to be.
What are Hopp’s growth plans?
We’re always looking at expansion opportunities, and we’ve been incredibly encouraged by the success we’ve seen in the GTA so far.
We’ve secured other municipal licenses in Ontario, we’re working through when we’d like to launch those cities, and we’re always looking at other opportunities to add more, whether that’s further expansion in Ontario or more nationally.
Do you intend to expand to other services, like food delivery or car sharing?
My focus as general manager falls under the rides division specifically, and other verticals sit elsewhere, so that’s not something that I would necessarily have a line of site on.
How do you plan to get the word out?
Some of the channels that we looked at initially are influencer campaigns, and social media.
Some of that awareness has been organic, with people sharing content online because they’re excited to have a European alternative that isn’t from south of the border.
We’re also looking to work with different venues, so keep an eye on some of the major landmarks over coming weeks.
We’re also offering discounts and incentives. For example, new riders can get 50 per cent off their first few trips, with more incentives rolling out to ensure that people are excited to try us out.
Are affordability challenges helping you spread that message?
People are always price conscious, so if they can get a similar product for a lower price, that’s usually a recipe for success.
There’s never a bad time to have more affordable pricing, and this wasn’t a decision that was driven by the current climate, it’s just who we are.
What is your primary focus now?
Our immediate focus is really ensuring that we are a strong operator within Toronto.
It means being a better partner to the stakeholders that are involved, making sure that our product is making sense for our riders and our drivers, and that we’re offering more affordable trips.
Longer term, we’ll start to look at more expansion.
The success that we’re seeing in the GTA is justification for us to apply that to other cities and municipalities within Canada.
