Velobike

Velobike
The "2.0" dockless e-bikes
Overview
Native name	Russian: Велобайк
Locale	Moscow, Russia
Transit type	Bicycle-sharing system
Annual ridership	4250000 (2018)
Website	https://velobike.ru/
Operation
Began operation	June 1, 2013 (2013-06-01)
Operator(s)	CityBike JSC (Russian: АО «СитиБайк»)
Number of vehicles	14250

Velobike (Russian: Велобайк) is a bicycle-sharing system run by the city of Moscow, Russia.

The system was opened in 2013. In 2015 the 1st generation of the system was fully replaced by the Smoove-based solution using B’TWIN bicycles.¹²

In 2016, e-bikes were added to the service.³ In 2018 e-bikes were replaced by a fleet of pedelecs.⁴

In 2018 there were 430 parking stations in the system with 4,300 bicycles. The system had 424,736 users registered and 4,25 million trips annually.³

In 2023, the new "2.0" e-bikes were introduced. Before 2023, Velobike operated as a docking station based system only, but with "2.0" e-bikes, it added dockless option too.⁵ The "2.0" became four times more popular than standard, station-based bikes, both e-bikes and standard bikes.⁶ As of 2023, more than 780 stations were available for users, around 10 thousand bikes were available, with 4 thousand of them being electric.⁵⁶

In 2025, all Smoove station-based bikes were decommissioned; Velobike has completely switched to dockless model. Instead, Velobike;

• Expanded its fleet up to nine thousand "2.0" dockless bikes;⁷

• Added scooter sharing — launched 300 electric scooters.⁸ Next year, 3,5 thousand more scooters were introduced;⁹

• Launched dockless non-electric bicycles — for adults and for children.¹⁰

A user has to pay by a payment card (Visa, Mastercard, Mir) for a subscription to the system either at the web site, mobile app or the Velobike's station terminal (where available). Access to a bicycle is arranged by account number (user ID) / PIN pair. A Troika transport card can also be used instead of the account number.¹²¹³

The system has been sponsored by a number of Russian banks. First, by the Bank of Moscow, then by the Sberbank and later on by the VTB Bank. The capital costs are covered by a sponsor while operating costs are covered by the city.¹⁴

User can buy subscription on day/week/month or seasonal plans to unlock savings on rides lasting one hour or less. There is an additional charge for time over the limit.¹⁵