You may have seen them: there is a growing number of shared bicycles in the province. Recently, they have also appeared on the TU Delft campus. It is a healthy and sustainable mode of transport, ideal in combination with public transport – perfect for the ‘last mile’ of your journey.

Recently, Donkey Republic placed 150 orange shared bicycles, and Felyx has made 100 blue electric shared bicycles available in Delft since the beginning of this year. The bicycles are ideal for students and staff of TU Delft, as well as companies on campus. The university and the province promote sustainable transport, such as cycling and walking, to make the campus greener, more livable, and CO₂-neutral. With a shared bicycle, for example, you can cycle from campus south to Delft Campus station in 5 to 10 minutes, where you can catch a train to Rotterdam or The Hague every 10 minutes.

Niels van Oort, head of the Smart Public Transport Lab at TU Delft, has been researching public transport and shared mobility for ten years. “The shared bicycle has many advantages. You can get anywhere with it, and cycling is healthy and sustainable. Especially in combination with public transport, it offers great benefits for the last kilometers of your journey.” Van Oort also researched the social value of shared bicycles. It turns out that the benefits – such as better accessibility, sustainability, and health – far outweigh the costs.

Next Step

According to Van Oort, the next step is crucial: “The shared bicycle needs more uniformity and stability. Thanks to smart technology, such as smart locks that can be operated via an app or chip card, usage is growing rapidly. “If we want the shared bicycle to truly prove its social value, we must actively support this development – for example, with uniform permits in municipalities or subsidies for less densely populated areas.”

Ronald Haverman, accessibility strategist at the province of South Holland and inventor of the OV-bike, emphasizes the importance of a broad range of shared mobility options: “We are pleased that travelers can now also choose from other shared bicycles in Delft, in addition to the OV-bike. In South Holland, shared bicycles are an important addition to public transport. We aim to significantly increase the number of shared bicycle users in the coming years.”

Discount for New Users

To help new users get started, Donkey Republic and Felyx have a discount promotion. The first 100 users of Donkey in Delft can use a shared bicycle for free for two hours every day for three months. New users of the Felyx app receive a discount on their ride with an electric shared bicycle using the code ‘DELFT12’.