According to plans, electrically assisted bicycles will also be available for rent in Budapest’s renewable public bike-sharing service Bubi 3.0 starting from 2026. The current fleet will be doubled, and the number of stations and service areas will increase, Mayor Gergely Karácsony announced on Tuesday in Budapest.
During a press conference held at the newly opened MOL Bubi station at the Kopaszi Dam (Kopaszi-gát), Karácsony stated that the Bubi public bike-sharing system will be expanded significantly by January 2026. Initially, they will at least double the number of rentable bicycles to 4,500, add more stations, utilize all micro-mobility points, and important public transportation hubs outside the Hungária Boulevard will also become accessible. The mayor emphasized the importance of Bubi being able to meet various needs. Therefore, according to the plans, one thousand bicycles in the fleet will be electrically assisted. ‘We want to create a system that takes Budapest into the 21st century,’ he said, adding that Bubi is not just a simple public policy tool but
an icon that represents what the city of the future will look like,
where we can commute much more flexibly.
CEO of the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK) Katalin Walter announced that the newly opened MOL Bubi station is the 208th in the series. They have expanded the number of stations by about 30 per cent over the past three years. Walter also mentioned that since the launch of Bubi 2.0 in spring 2021, they have surpassed 8 million rentals. Daily experiences also show that the current bike-sharing system, Bubi 2.0, is a ‘huge success’.
She also discussed how Bubi was created with a very good purpose but ‘didn’t really take into account customer needs, and therefore (…) couldn’t achieve such success.’ When designing Bubi 2.0,
they listened to their customers and took digital development into account.
As an example, she mentioned that the bikes have become lighter, and the rental process has become ‘completely new and digital-based’. Regarding Bubi 3.0, she said that the current contract expires in December 2025, and to ensure continuity of service, a public procurement must be announced in September. The goal is for Bubi 3.0 to bring at least as much progress as Bubi 2.0 did. She also mentioned that BKK will soon launch market consultations to choose the most suitable service for the city based on international best practices before the procurement starts in the fall. Additionally, they will conduct a survey to examine user satisfaction.
MOL Bubi is a communal transportation service run by the BKK, available 24/7 every day of the year, offering an environmentally friendly and swift option for urban travel. The user-accessible components of the bike-sharing system include the MOL Bubi application, 207 collection stations, 2460 bicycles, the service area road network, the BudapestGO application, and the BKK Customer Service. The availability of communal bicycles and the quality of service are ensured by the service contracts of the BKK.
The MOL Bubi bike-sharing service can be used with a monthly or yearly MOL Bubi pass or with a usage fee based on minutes. Bicycles can be picked up using the MOL Bubi application. The usage fee based on minutes is 40 forints per minute. If one wants to travel with friends or acquaintances, they can pick up two bicycles simultaneously.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/BKK/MTI
