Paris to launch world’s biggest fleet of electric bicycles
Move to encourage e-bike commuting, reduce congestion and pollution
Paris — The Paris region plans to launch a large fleet of electric bicyles in a state-funded scheme aimed at getting commuters to cycle to work and reducing congestion and pollution. From September 2019, regional transport agency Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) will provide up to 10,000 e-bikes for long-term rental, with a view to expanding the scheme to 20,000, which would make it the world’s largest e-bike rental programme. The aim of the “Veligo” service is to encourage bicycle commuting, which at the moment accounts for only 1.6% of daily trips in the Ile-de-France area. Veligo will be run by a joint venture including the postal service and transport firm Transdev under a six-year contract. It will have a budget of up €111m. It will complement Paris’ Velib scheme, which has served as a model for bike-sharing worldwide but which has struggled since a new operator took over in 2018. Only half the promised 20,000 new Velibs are in operation. Unlike Velib bikes, which are rented on a...
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