Uber's electric Jump bikes have seen over 500,000 rides in Brussels, landing the city in the top 10 most frequent users of the system worldwide.
According to usage figures reported by Bruzz the Electric Sharing Bicycle Platform is gaining a foothold, with the five cities where Jump is most frequently used all in Europe.
With around 500,000 rides, Brussels ranks in the global top 10 for bike use. The number one slot is occupied by Paris, with two million journeys since April.
According to findings, the shared bicycles and scooters in Brussels are mainly used as an addition to public transport, with 38 % starting or ending within a 200-metre radius of a station or stop.
Additionally, Brussels residents use the Jump bike most often between 5:00 OM and 6:00 PM.
Low service
Despite a high number of users in the city, Uber continues only to serve part of Brussel Region after pulling out communes earlier in 2019, citing acts of vandalism.
“After a substantial number of thefts of JUMP-bikes and acts of vandalism, we have decided to temporarily suspend our activities in some parts of Brussels,” an Uber spokesperson told The Brussels Times.
At the time services were suspended in Anderlecht, Koekelberg, Molenbeek and Laken.
This move drew criticism from the Mayor of Molenbeek Catherine Moureaux, who said that the company’s objective was above all commercial, calling out its “opportunism,” and wondering whether the company was trying to gain leverage as officials crackdown on parking regulations for dockless mobility services.
“These companies are quick to abandon neighbourhoods, which is the opposite [logic] of a public service,” she said, calling out Uber’s “hard-hearted capitalism” and citing the example of public bike-sharing scheme operator Villo, who she said worked “successfully” with the municipality.
Jules Johnston
The Brussels Times
