There are at least eight options when it comes to cycling in Brussels. You can either use your own bike, or choose a rental one instead. Sara Johansson prefers her own folding bike, but right at the start of the interview she has a confession to make: ‘I actually don’t like biking in Brussels at all. It isn’t very safe.’

When commuting to school in Mechelen, Sara does cycle. ‘I’m living quite far from the train station, so if I didn’t bike I would need to take the tram. But the tram is too expensive, because I already have to pay for the train tickets. Biking is a cheaper way to get to school, and it’s a way of closing the gap between the train station and my home.’

She believes cycling isn’t the safest way of getting from A to B in Brussels. ‘You are in the same street as cars and trams, and people often aren’t cautious when driving. Also, the streets can be very difficult to bike on because of tram tracks and cobblestones. It often happens that I have to be in a narrow street with cars parked on the side of the road and people opening their doors, which is very dangerous.’

Finally, she states that another issue is the air quality. ‘Another reason I don’t like biking is the air quality. The air is terrible, so it’s not very pleasant to go uphill. It’s not nice at all.’

Rental bicycles: ‘much easier’

Next to using your own bicycle, there are several companies that offer rental bicycles. Villo! lets you rent a bike for a year, but you can also choose to rent one for a day or a week. Blue-bike too gives you the opportunity to use a bicycle just for a day or for a longer period.

These types of rental service offer many advantages, such as not having to haul your bike everywhere or having to fear that it gets stolen or damaged.

Another type of rental bike is offered by Cyclo or Pro Velo for example. In this case you can rent a bike which you keep for the entire period. Swapfiets too offers bicycles for longer periods of time, but in their case the bike can get swapped when you are experiencing any problems with it.

Other initiatives such as BrikBike have special student offers, so students have the possibility to rent a bike for a semester or a year.

Even though Sara doesn’t use rental bikes in Brussels, she really likes the concept. ‘I did use them a lot when I was living in Antwerp.’ She thinks rentals offer several advantages: ‘I used rental bikes a lot in Antwerp, because the price was very good. It was 40 or 50 euros a year I think. The system was really well spread-out over the city so it was really easy.’

‘It was also a great way of not having to worry that your bike would get stolen if you went out at night. Because at night the tram wasn’t an option, since it stops working really early.’

But the rentals don’t only come in handy in the evening: ‘If I went to the city centre for the day, shopping or walking around, I could leave the bike in one place, do my thing and take it back home from another place.’

And even though she already had her own bike back then, she still chose to use rental bikes. ‘I even had two. I had the folding one, but I was afraid that it would get stolen because it’s expensive, and another one. The other one I did use a lot too, to go to work and back, for example. But when I was going to the city centre, it was a hassle if you wanted to go to some shops, or have a coffee, and go different places. Then you would have to lock the bike, unlock it, lock it again, and so on. With a rental bike you could just leave it, walk away and do your thing. So that was much easier.’

And what about rental e-bikes?

Not only regular bicycles are for rent, but electric ones too. Pro Velo offers both regular and e-bikes. And since 2017, there’s a shared e-bike system in Brussels: the Billy bike. They, however, work with a waiting list due to the limited number of bicycles.

Sara admits she isn’t really a fan of e-bikes. ‘In Brussels there’s a lot of uphill and downhill, but it’s not that difficult to bike uphill. I mean, I am physically capable of doing that. It’s great for people who have difficulties, if they have bad knees for example. For healthy people I think the e-bikes are not a responsible choice because of their environmental impact.’

The verdict?

Biking in Brussels: an affordable way of moving around in the city, with several existing options when it comes to rentals. But Sara warns bikers that they should remember to be careful which route they take while paying close attention to traffic.

The post Biking in Brussels: ‘I can just walk away and do my thing thanks to rentals’ appeared first on Brussels Express.

This summer a new type of shared means of transportation arrived in Brussels: the e-scooter. In June, Brussels’ start-up Troty opened its doors, and not too long after, in September, an American company called Bird followed. And proving that the e-scooters are a success, Californian start-up Lime too opened up shop in Brussels on 16th November.

Similarities and differences

There are similarities between all companies, but there are several differences too.

• Brussels

As mentioned before, a big – and obvious – similarity between the companies is that they’re all operational in Brussels. The companies have different amounts of scooters, ranging from Troty’s 60 – 35 during winter – scooters, to Lime’s 500.

• Fees

All companies ask for a starting cost of 1 euro, and then ask 15 cents per minute. However, for longer periods of time Troty offers discounts: 6.5 euros an hour – instead of 9 euros – and 39 euros a day. For Bird and Lime there is no mention of such discounts.

• Availability

The e-scooters of these companies are only available by day. Bird offers e-scooters between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Lime keeps them available from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Troty on the other hand only starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. At night the scooters are collected by employees, who stall them overnight and charge them. In the morning, when they are all charged, the scooters are redistributed over the city.

• Speed

Though they’re all electric scooters, the maximum speed at which they can go is different. Troty scooters can ride up to 25 km/h, and Lime scooters up to 24 km/h. Their Bird equivalents can only reach up to 18 km/h. Of course the users have to adapt to their surroundings and the traffic, so this difference in top speed is probably not really of any importance.

• User qualifications

To ride an e-scooter you have to meet some conditions. Riders must be over 18 years old, and in possession of a valid licence. Of course you also need a smartphone that is compatible with the app software and a credit card. Troty also requires you to present a national identity card or a valid passport.

Not only their services, but the companies’ apps too look rather similar.

Before you get going

The companies ask their users to bring a helmet for safety, and to ride in bike lanes, not on sidewalks. They also trust the users to be responsible when parking: don’t leave the scooter lying around, because people might fall over them, and it just isn’t nice having to dodge scooters as you are walking.

If you want to find out more about how it feels to ride an e-scooter, go to businessinsider.nl for a thorough review.

The post Whizzing around in Brussels: the shared e-scooter appeared first on Brussels Express.