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Last week New York City launched its citybike scheme to great fanfare (there was also a bit of bonkers ‘death by bicycle’ scaremongering) and now Moscow has launched its scheme. VeloBike appears to be very much aimed at locals as the website, registration protocol and all signage are in Russian.
The VeloBike scheme went live on 1st June and is a joint project between Russia’s Department of Transportation and the Bank of Moscow. 30 solar-powered docking stations have been dotted around the city centre, with plans for 70 more.
To encourage use of the system, Moscow’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said 62km of cycle paths would be added to the existing 85 kms in Moscow. (However, most of these paths are in city parks, rather than on the streets).
The city is planning to add the bike scheme to its Oyster-like public transport card, "Troika", so users can pay for bike rental this way too. Some buses and trolley buses have been equipped with bike carriers on the front, with space for three bikes.
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Pix: Stepan Chizhov
