The City of Brno’s public support fund for bike sharing gives all users in the city a free 30-minute bicycle trip twice a day. The scheme is running for its second year, and this year will end on 30 September.
Brno has signed a four-year contract with shared bike providers Rekola and nextbike, according to which users can borrow a bike twice a day for free for 30 minutes. Instead, the city pays the bike sharing companies. CZK 2.4 million was set aside for this year (for the cycling season from spring to autumn), which could be increased up to CZK 4 million if necessary. This year, however, even these increased funds were exhausted.
“While last year the money was enough to cover all rides from March to October, this year people are using bikes much more, and the scheme will end due to the exhaustion of funds as early as the end of September,” said Petr Kratochvíl, city councillor for transport. “In the period from May to August, the number of rides rose by almost 20%. Unfortunately, with regard to the Public Procurement Act, we cannot simply and flexibly increase the contract limit and continue to pay for bike sharing. For the coming year, however, we want to optimise support for bike sharing and increase the budget for this project.”
After a successful pilot scheme in 2022, which brought almost 10,000 new users to the service, the city concluded a framework agreement with the providers for 2023-2026 on the provision of the shared bike service. With the option to borrow a bike for free, the city wants to motivate those who don’t have their own bike or who want to try cycling in the city for the first time.
This project also provides valuable data for the city, giving an overview of where people most often cycle, and which places in Brno should be prioritised when planning future cycling infrastructure to ensure a safer and more comfortable passage through the city for cyclists.
Other statistics from this year’s scheme:
- A stable growth of new users (8,000 for this season).
- The most rides were in June (27,000 rides per month, 900 rides per day).
- 140,000 rides were supported until August.
- When comparing the observed period (May–August) with last year, rides increased by 20%, and 40% from the pilot year of 2022.
