In March, the Mobility Committee of the Brussels Parliament already reached a consensus: Villo!, the public bike-sharing system, is underperforming and urgently needs to be replaced.
A new report by the Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis (IBSA) now confirms this negative trend. Between 2018 and 2024, Villo! rented out no less than 40,2% fewer bikes, while free-floating e-bikes grew by 61,1 last year in the Brussels-Capital Region.
2,565 daily rentals
According to IBSA’s Socio-Economic Panorama 2025, which includes a section on mobility, Villo! —Operated by advertising company JCDecuax —recorded 2,565 daily rentals in 2024, with an available fleet of 3,828 bicycles across 344 stations.
This represents 94 fewer daily rentals, or -3,5%, and 107 fewer available bicycles, or -2,7%, than in 2023. This decline is part of a downward trend that began in 2018, with 40,2% fewer rentals between 2018 and 2024.
Villo’s free fall stands in stark contrast to the success of shared bikes and e-scooters of free-floating services. With an average of 5,422 trips per day in 2024, across an average fleet of 3,698 bikes per hour, the use of e-bikes in the free fleet is therefore increasing very strongly compared to 2023. This represents an increase of 2,055 trips per day and a growth of +61,1%.
Almost 25,000 e-scooter trips per day
The e-scooter’s success is even greater, with an average of 24,789 daily trips and 13,528 available machines in 2024. However, there has been a decline in both supply and demand. Compared to 2023, there were 20,2% fewer e-scooters available, and daily trips were 13,5% fewer.
However, this decline is logical: to combat the proliferation of shared e-scooters, at the end of 2023, the Brussels region selected Bolt and Dott as the only operators still allowed to rent shared scooters. The number of shared e-scooters was also reduced to a maximum of 8,000, with each scooter to be parked in 2,082 designated drop zones.
E-bike craze
The BISA report also shows that cycling in the Brussels-Capital Region is still on the rise, even though the modal share of cycling stabilized at 8,5% between 2022 and 2024.
Nevertheless, the number of cyclists registered in the morning has increased by 4% compared to 2023. More than a third of Brussels residents (36%) also cycle at least once a month, and 22% once a week.
Another noteworthy fact: almost half, or 48%, of cyclists counted during rush hour ride e-bikes. More than one in 10 Brussels households owns one. This shows how e-bikes are also reducing CO2 emissions in Brussels.
No immediate successor for Villo!
And still about the dock-based bike-share system Villo! The concession between JCDecuax and the Brussels Region expires in 2026, but as there is still no new Brussels government, there will be no immediate successor. Or how more and more services to citizens are being compromised by the absence of a government.
A study conducted last year also showed that Villo! costs the Brussels government budget between €1,000 and €4,000 per bicycle per year, depending on which basic infrastructure you include in the calculation.
