Uber to launch bike-sharing scheme in Brussels

In what will surely be an easier move than the introduction of the taxi service, Uber has announced that it will launch a bike-sharing scheme in Brussels. The bright red bikes will hit the streets sometime this spring.

The San Francisco-based firm will offer both traditional and electric bikes as part of the new service. It is currently looking for a partner to manage the system.

Aside from the taxi service, which has been under constant assault from Brussels’ traditional taxi sector since its launch in 2014, Uber also operates food-delivery service UberEats in Brussels.

In any case, Uber will have a fair bit of competition: The capital’s Villo! bike-sharing scheme has an excess of 1.5 million hires per year, and Blue Bike is offered by the rail service. Billy Bike, meanwhile, is an electric bike-sharing scheme.

Another bike-sharing service, GoBee, shut up shop in Brussels early last year after a mere three months, citing vandalism. The Singapore firm oBike also didn’t last very long, going out of business less than a year after it launched its Brussels fleet in 2017.