JCDecaux to electrify a third of Villo! bikes, the self-service bike rental scheme for the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium, equipping them with portable batteries

JCDecaux S.A. (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide and global leader in self-service bike rental schemes, announces that its subsidiary, JCDecaux Belgium, has signed an agreement with the Brussels Government to electrify a third of its 5,000 Villo! bikes, and to offer a revamped and easier-to-use service to the users of the self-service bike rental scheme serving the 19 districts of the Brussels-Capital Region (population: 1,200,000).

These innovations will be 100% financed by JCDecaux with the digitisation of one third of the advertising street furniture units included in the Villo! contract across the 19 districts of Brussels. These digital displays will also allow the districts and region to broadcast public information in real time and advertisers to deliver contextualised and geo-located communications.

Villo! has been a great success since it launched in 2009. It currently has 114,000 users, a fleet of 5,000 bikes and 360 docking stations. Under this latest agreement, JCDecaux will replace 1,800 of the current Villo! bikes with electric bikes by spring 2019. The new fleet will use portable batteries via a USB-C connection, and have a range between charges of 8-10 kilometres.

This innovative service, a perfect fit with the region’s policy of promoting multimode mobility, will be made even more accessible by a complete overhaul of JCDecaux’s bike management platform. In 2019, users will have a new and simpler smartphone app to make Villo! bikes easier to use.

Pascal Smet, Mobility Minister for the Brussels-Capital Region, said: “10 years on from the start of bicycle sharing in Brussels, I am delighted to announce this much-anticipated modernisation. There will soon be no excuse not to take a Villo! from Flagey to the Germoir “S” station or from Wiels to the National Forest. The hills of the cityscape have previously discouraged many Brussels citizens from getting on a bike but the electric Villo! will help end this obstacle and encourage cycling in the city.”

Jean-Sébastien Decaux, CEO Southern Europe, Belgium and Luxembourg, Africa and Israel, said: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Brussels-Capital Region, a testament to the confidence that the Brussels Government has in our expertise and drive to innovate. It is a real endorsement of our ability to offer high-quality and innovative solutions, which will make a pivotal contribution to eco-mobility in the region by introducing a technology that makes it easier to move around Brussels’ hilly topography with no interruption to the service.
We recently won the contract to provide electric self-service bike rental scheme in Luxembourg. We are therefore proud to continue the European roll-out of our electric bike solutions, a service that is both efficient and emblematic of sustainable modernity.”