Milan adds 1,000 e-bikes to bike share system

One thousand e-bikes have been unveiled across the BikeMi bike sharing system in Milan that will now complement the 3,600 existing traditional pushbikes. The city becomes the first to offer traditional and electric bikes from the same sharing station.

“Today’s wide participation [in the e-bike tour and launch] confirms the vocation of the Milanese for the bicycle, consolidated in recent years thanks to BikeMi which has created a real means of transport which is complementary to public transport,” said Pierfrancesco Maran, City Councillor for Mobility and the Environment. “Starting from today, the service can be used by everybody and with the opening of new stations, more areas of the city will be served.”

The arrival of Milan’s new electric bikes marks the start of the third phase of bike sharing in the city. Besides electric bikes, 70 new stations are being added. Out of these, 44 will be located on the route connecting the city centre with the Milan Expo and will be moved to other areas of the city at the end of the event.

“Milan is the first city in the world to have an integrated bike sharing system which will facilitate mobility to the Expo in the next six months,” said Paolo Dosi, CEO at Clear Channel Italia, operators of the system. “It will immediately allow Milanese and all tourists to put red electric bikes next to traditional yellow bikes.”

The arrival of E-BikeMi does not change the existing bike sharing system, and will remain a ‘one station dual system’. In existing and future stations, users will find both traditional and electric bikes. The use of traditional bikes will continue to be free for the first half hour and rates for the following minutes will be unchanged. Rates for the e-bikes will be proportionate to use, starting from €0.25 for half an hour and incrementally rising to €3.75 for 2 hours.

The new bikes feature lithium-ion batteries, providing a range of 55-65 kilometres and can be recharged up to 300 times. The e-bikes will also include GPS to ensure bikes can be located in the event of loss or theft, displaying the route cycled and battery level.

“The Ministry of the Environment has included €35 million for sustainable mobility and, for the first time in our legislation, recognised the bicycle as a means of transport for the ‘home-work’ commute in case of an accident,” said Barbara Degani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Environment, that provided a €4 million investment. “At the Ministry of Environment, we incentivise sustainable mobility through financing plans with which we provide the city with bicycles for the bike sharing scheme. Excellent examples like the city of Milan prove that when a service is efficient and well-managed, citizens respond positively and the record of BikeMi subscribers is the proof.”