Challenge Unlocked: Taking over the old bike-sharing scheme

A 180 degree turn towards electric

The previous system, which was 100% made up of mechanical bikes, had 1000 bikes and 130 stations. The first challenge was therefore to replace the existing stations with new charging stations.

With only 8 months after the contract was awarded, the service was launched on December 19, 2022, a week before the scheduled date, thanks to the joint efforts of the service operator (Inurba), the supplier (Fifteen) and the station installer (Citeos).

Ensuring Continuity for Le Vélo Subscribers

Transferring subscribers from the previous service was a second challenge to be met. Everything was done to make this transition as smooth as possible:

• The new 100% electric Levélo service is accessible without any additional fees until the expiry of the initial subscription.
• The specific advantages acquired under the old subscription are transferred to the new application so that the bonus minutes are not lost.

3 Months post launch

The number of daily trips surpassed the previous record in just one month. The stats on the number of bike rides is impressive, and that’s even before you consider the new scheme was launched in one of the coldest months (December, 2022).

The average number of bike trips per day is increasing every month: 

• January: 2700 trips per day
• February: 5600 trips per day
• March: 8000 trips per day

…and the last week of March? 9500 trips per day.

The people of Marseille are increasingly enthusiastic about the service, with an average of 3500 users per day in March 2023 (compared to 2000 at the launch).

Moving to 100% electric bikes is transforming mobility in the city of Marseille. It is highly likely that the number of trips will break all records this summer.

People love 100% electric bike-sharing

An impressive cycling experience

While people can access the bike-sharing scheme via the bike-station kiosks, the service is easily accessible via the LeVelo bike-sharing app which invites users to rate their trips.

Of the rated trips, 84% were rated from good (23%) to excellent (61%).

The Levélo application, rated 4.8 on the App Store (1881 ratings) and 4.3 on the Google PlayStore (533 ratings), is also popular with users.

Impressive pricing, especially consider it’s 100% electric

The local authority wanted to maintain affordable pricing even in the context of the transition to a 100% electric scheme.

Pricing for the 100% electric scheme

For occasional use : €1 for the first 30 minutes of a trip, then 0.05 cents per minute.

For the regular user: €6 per month, unlimited number of trips (within a limit of 30 minutes per trip, then 0.05 cents per minute)

Daily rate: €6 per day, fantastic for the 7 million visitors that Marseille sees annually.

Subsidised Pricing

To encourage a new generation to cycle, those under 26 can subscribe to the service for only €3 per month. 

A service designed for multi-modal trips

For public transport subscribers (those with Lacarte or Transpass cards), the service is free and unlimited for trips of less than 30 minutes.

Being able to easily access the scheme by waving your transport card over the bike is key to encouraging multi-modal transportation. With the new scheme of Levelo, visitors and residents of Marseille are able to take the train, jump on a bike and walk to their destination creating a comprehensive sustainable transport network for everyone.

Overall, the launch of levélo has been a success and promises to make bike-sharing more accessible and enjoyable for the people of Marseille.