You may have already seen them: the number of shared bicycles in the Delft is increasing, and they are now available on the TU Delft Campus as well. It’s a healthy and sustainable mode of transportation, particularly useful in combination with public transport, making it ideal for covering the last part of a journey.
Recently, Donkey Republic placed 150 orange shared bikes, and Felyx made 100 blue electric shared bikes available in Delft earlier this year. These bikes are especially useful for TU Delft students and staff, as well as for companies located on campus. The university encourages sustainable travel, such as cycling and walking, to make the campus greener, more livable and CO2-neutral. For instance, it takes only 5 to 10 minutes by bike to get from Campus South to Delft Campus train station, from which a sprinter train departs every ten minutes toward Rotterdam or The Hague.
Niels van Oort, head of TU Delft-s Smart Public Transport Lab, has been researching public transport and shared mobility for a decade. According to him, the shared bicycle offers many advantages: "it provides flexible transportation, promotes health, and is environmentally friendly. When combined with public transit, it adds great value, especially for the last segment of a trip." His research into the societal value of shared bicycles shows that the benefits - such as improved accessibility, sustainability, and public health - far outweigh the costs.
Next steps
According to Van Oort, the next important step is to make shared bicycles more uniform and available. Thanks to smart technology, such as locks that work via an app or chip card, the use of shared bikes is growing quickly. -To truly realize the societal benefits of shared bicycles, it’s essential to support this development actively, for example by introducing uniform permits across municipalities or offering subsidies in less densely populated areas.-
Ronald Haverman, mobility strategist at the Province of South Holland and inventor of the OV-fiets, highlights the importance of a diverse range of shared mobility options. "Travelers in Delft now have more choice with the addition of shared bikes, alongside the OV-fiets. Shared bicycles form an important supplement to public transport in South Holland, and the aim is to significantly increase the number of users in the coming years."
Discount on shared bikes
To support new users in getting started, users of Donkey Republic bikes in Delft can ride 30 minutes for free using the code "DELFT". New users of the Felyx app can receive a discount on a ride with an electric shared bike by using the code -DELFT12-.
