The development of an environment friendly transportation is especially important for Budapest. It aims to help the city’s residents to live in a clean and sustainable environment.
It is well known that for short (3-5 km) distances cycling is much faster than every other transportation method within the city. For this reason, the goal was to make the bicycles more popular than cars and other public transportation methods.
Similar public bike systems have already existed in Hungary, thus we have entered as the fourth player into this market. However, thanks to continuous improvements and the expansion of the system we have become the largest one.
With the MOL Bubi public bike system we have opened a new chapter in the public transportation of Budapest. We have created a system by which we can spread the idea of cycling among the citizens, and with this we can offer help, among other things, for the problem of air and noise pollution.
Similar public bike systems have already existed in Hungary, thus we have entered as the fourth player into this market. However, thanks to continuous improvements and the expansion of the system we have become the largest one.
The collecting centers and the green bikes were ready by the spring of 2014. Currently we have 99 docking stations and 1150 bikes.
We not only deserve the appellation “green” with our color but also with our environment friendly effect, because a cyclist can save up to 6,2 tons of carbon dioxide emission compared to a car driver, if he rides his bike all day long. This is not the only significant difference between cyclists and motorists: according to a research – conducted in cooperation with the Swedish Lund University and the Australian Queensland University in 2015 – travelling by car is six times more expensive than riding a bike. Furthermore our bikes don’t use fossil materials, so they won’t pollute nature at all.
Our bikes also have the power of building communities. This is proven by those cities where public bike systems were established earlier, because in this cities several bike communities have been established. Moreover, the Danish Capital Region estimated that the residents use 1 million days less for sick leave because of persistent cycling. This also supports the statement which says that cycling is a good way to preserve our good health, and 30 minutes ride per day can satisfy our daily need for exercises.
In the name of sustainability we are not only doing good for the city, for the nature or for the people, but we also fit into the European Parliament’s decree issued in December 2015, that declares the importance of cities being more greener and cleaner.
In our opinion, MOL Bubi also fits into the three corner stone of sustainable development (social development, economic development, environmental protection), and we fully feel ourselves in the concept:
“Sustainable development is a specific development that meets the needs of the present times without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Furthermore, our dynamic and trendy public bike system can work as an awareness raising tool that highlights the multi-modal travel opportunities, promoting bicycle transportation thus contributing to making Budapest a more livable and sustainable city.