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We lowered the price of Mol Bubi to HUF 100 per month and introduced the possibility of online registration. Among other things, this was also included in Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s hit list on Monday listing transportation development measures. BKK also boosted the HUF 100 Bubi project with video marketing, after it became clear that time had passed since the launch of the country’s largest bike sharing system in 2014. According to Monday’s announcement from the Metropolitan Municipality, the number of Registered Bubi users has risen to over 100,000.
Many may have signed up, but few rode the bikes.
As early as the summer of 2019, Mol Bubi seemed to be in big trouble after losing more than 40 percent of its former users. This spring, they promised more flexible use (the news was about renting a mobile app, broken tires instead of a sponge hose, and a smart lock) so that more people could ride their bikes in Budapest. However, despite the news of the good news, the number of daily rentals did not exceed 2,500 much even after last summer, which meant a low flight of around 1,600 daily uses.
The Bubi is renewed, but still
Late november the operating contract for the system known to users expires and the capital company readjusts the entire public bicycle system. As a result, it could easily happen that no one can rent a Bubi bike starting in December.
Of course, BKK will keep the bike share system, but almost nothing but its name, at least it can be read in the contest for the operation.
The new system will be different in almost everything from software and hardware to graphics and visuals and bikes, despite the fact that in 2017 assumed a five-year maintenance obligation when it is expanded from the resources of the Central Hungary Competitive Operational Program (VEKOP). According to the tender, it takes a minimum of 5 months to implement the new Bubi, so conceivable (and it can be explained in terms of the transition) that the Bubi network just shuts down during the winter.
According to the new tender, we will also not be able to drive Bubi pedelecs with electronic assistance in the future, so it will not yet be an attractive alternative for Buda residents living in more mountainous areas. Especially since they will still be quite difficult: the tender devices under 19 pounds already It does not reward you with extra points, so instead of the current 24.5 kg bikes, we can prepare for bikes between 23 and 19 kg.
Most surprising, however, is that compared to the current 2,071 bikes, the bidder expects just 1,200 bikes, which, if the full 30 percent option is called, will expand to a maximum of 1,560, so there will be remarkably less Bubi bikes in the capital. The new idea also does not include expanding the current impact area. We will not get any closer to the stated goal, that is, to get more people to ride bicycles in Budapest, not through the new public bicycle system in Budapest.
(Cover image: Mol Bubi Batthyány tér collection station on October 19, 2019. Photo: Gábor Juhász / MTI)
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