Shared electric cargo bikes arrive in Geneva | City of Geneva

For carry your weekly purchasesdo a walk with your children Or moving a television, why not opt ​​for an electric cargo bike? From September 11, 2018, the cities of Geneva and Carouge are offering this possibility to their residents by providing them with 15 electric cargo bikes. 5 more will be put into service by the end of the year. In total, the Geneva fleet will therefore include 20 electric cargo bikes.

This project is developed in partnership with carvelo2go. Set up by the TCS Mobility Academy and the Engagement Migros support fund, carvelo2go

offers a rental network of electric cargo bikes that works similarly to Mobility car sharing. Supported by the SuisseEnergie program, the carvelo2go offer has already attracted 40 citiesincluding Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Vevey and Zurich.

“Electric cargo bikes facilitate daily mobility in urban areas, comments Dr. Jörg Beckmann, director of the TCS Mobility Academy. They arouse the joy of users and the sharing system allows even more protect resources and the climate.”

Very simple operation

After registering on the carvelo2go.ch platform or on the app, users can reserve their cargo bike at a advantageous hourly rate. Cargo bikes are parked near local establishments acting as hosts and handing over the keys and batteries to the users. In return, these establishments benefit from free use of cargo bikes to meet their own transport needs and thus become true ambassadors of the service in their neighborhood. The full list of partner companies is available below under “Download”.

Users can opt for the half-price subscription, which will allow them to make significant savings. TCS members also benefit from a 50% discount on their reservations. When registering, three online payment options are offered: Visa, Mastercard or PostFinance.

At the technical level, the Geneva fleet of carvelo2go will be maintained by the “Genèveroule” organizationwhich participates in the network of hosts with its Montbrillant and Terrassière stations, as well as through the cycle store “Bikes2fold”.

Promoting sustainable mobility

The City of Geneva financially supports implementation of the offer through its societal innovation program G’innove. For Sandrine Salerno, Administrative Advisor, “this project, in addition to being innovative, fits perfectly with the City’s policy on sustainable development. It offers ecological alternative to the car, benefits local businesses partners and allows you to reduce noise pollution as atmospheric“.

There City of Carouge participates For its part to network development carvelo2go Geneva by sponsoring two electric cargo bikes which will be parked on its territory. For Nicolas Walder, Mayor of Carouge, “the carvelo2go shared solution proves that we can transport equipment or children in an ecological way without having to resort to the car while favoring use over possession, which contributes to the fight against ‘resource depletion.”

The other 18 “carvélos” are sponsored by the Geneva Section of the TCS, the Central Club of the TCS and the Swiss Post. President of TCS Geneva, François Memberz is delighted with this new service offered to Genevans: “The participation of TCS in this type of project reflects its pragmatic openness to all modes of transport, particularly in urban areas”.