Most rides on a Blue-bike, a bike-sharing project of which the Flemish public transport company De Lijn is the main shareholder, will become one euro more expensive from next year. This is because the concession from the Flemish government will disappear. Indeed, for each 24-hour ride, the Flemish government has reimbursed one euro.

From 1 January, most rates for the blue share bikes will change. Specifically, the price will rise from 1,5 to 2,5 euros for the first 24 hours.

€2,5 for the first 24 hours

The reason for the disappearance of one euro support per ride is the implementation of basic accessibility. This stipulates that the policy and, thus, the budget for shared cars and shared bikes is a matter for the transport regions.

At Blue-bike, which puts itself in the shop window with the slogan ‘Always a bike in your pocket’, they regret that the concession for customers will disappear, says Stefaan Butane, general manager of Blue-mobility, the company behind Blue-bike.

120 locations

Blue-bike is a bike-sharing service that allows sharing the well-known blue bikes at more than 120 locations in Belgium – especially in Flanders – predominantly near stations.

Last year, more than 30 000 Blue-bike members, including 6 000 new members, rode 300 504 rides in 110 locations. The most frequent locations for cycling were Leuven, Deinze, Bruges, Mechelen, and Ghent-St.-Pieters station. A total of 2 383 bikes were deployed.