long-term leasing is a real compromise between using self-service bicycles and buying a personal bicycle. Constantly gaining new adepts, it seems to have a bright future ahead of it. Offered by many public and private organizations, bicycle leasing helps to reduce the modal share of polluting vehicles on the national territory.
Thanks to these solutions, cyclists, who are often novices, can benefit from an all-in-one service. Indeed, where there are still obstacles to the purchase of a new bicycle, long-term rental offers, by subscription, to meet the essential needs of cyclists. Guarantees against theft, coverage of repairs and maintenance, bicycle garage, but also coverage of the cost of the subscription by the employer up to 50% (for public services). These are all arguments in favour of renting a bike before you decide to buy one.
To try e-bike it is to adopt it!
It takes an average of 2 months to change your travel habits by switching from a private car to an electric bicycle. After this time, even the most reluctant to put their foot on the pedal are won over and adopt the bicycle reflex for their daily trips. With possible development in urban, suburban and rural areas, leasing solutions aim to convert new users and increase the modal share of cycling in the region. With solutions such as “Mon Bicloo” in Nantes, “hurricane” in London or« Donkey Republic» in Rotterdam”, 13% of long-term rental users no longer wish to buy a car and 12% are no longer using one.
The long-term rental market is currently in the process of being structured and is divided between public and private players, thus increasing the number of solutions. While all of them are aimed at converting a maximum number of people to bicycle use, they are not all aimed at the same public.
Long-term rental bike : Veligo a success story
Designed to solve problems linked to urbanization and to build the cities of tomorrow, long-term bicycle rental solutions have proven themselves. Already present in many large cities such as Paris, Nantes or Bordeaux, long-term rental solutions are also developing in rural areas.
Public services offer accessible rates that allow new cyclists to discover the pleasure of cycling for a while, generally between 6 and 12 months, renewable or not.
Veligo Location, a 20,000 e-bike’s fleet set up by Île-de-France Mobilités for Parisians with Fluow (Laposte group), has already benefited more than 40,000 users, and the waiting list is growing. The specificity is also the equipment of these VAE in connectivity, which allows having a better service for the users, better manage costs for the fleet and an analysis of the behaviours with bicycles in order to rethink the cycle tracks and installations for the bicycles.
80% of people who tested the service continue to ride a bike and 57% have decided to buy one. These results show the effectiveness of these devices in transforming mobility in depth. Véligo continues to build on its success, with plans to double its fleet in the coming years.
Private players on the rise in the bike leasing market
However, the offers presented by the local authorities have their limits in terms of time. Users who cannot systematically claim the renewal of their subscription are then faced with several choices. Either they turn to the purchase of a personal bicycle or self-service bicycles, or they decide to switch to another mode of transport. However, the evaluation study of bicycle services commissioned by Ademe indicates that many of them would prefer to continue to benefit from the services offered by long-term rental in order not to have to worry about the potential costs of insurance, maintenance, or the resale price of their vehicle.
Thus, players such as Red Will or Swapfiets are responding to this demand by offering subscriptions similar to those offered by the public sector. With no time limit, long-term bike rental is accompanied by premium services. Repair at home, at work, or delivery of a new bike in case of theft. These offers offer great flexibility to users and allow them to ride with peace of mind. On the other hand, it will not be possible to benefit from the 50% reimbursement of the subscription price by the employer. But solutions for companies and their employees are emerging and are becoming more and more popular.
Indeed, initiatives such as Starbolt’s or Donkey Republic’s are helping to bring about a profound change in corporate mobility. Offering fleets of light vehicles, Starbolt enables companies to contribute to sustainable development by offering their employees a non-polluting means of transportation. When today 25% of home-work journeys are made by bicycle and this figure is constantly increasing, shared fleet solutions between employees also seems to have a bright future.
At Velco, we are very pleased to support these major players in mobility by connecting electric bicycle fleets to offer more services to users and to facilitate fleet management. By increasing the attractiveness of e-bikes and bike leasing solutions, we are transforming mobility for sustainable development. We are therefore delighted with the success of Operational Leasing and wish it a very bright future!