São Paulo will soon have a new bike-sharing system. Developed by the company Yellow, the system will deploy 20,000 vehicles and will not feature stations—the bicycles will be left freely on the streets.
Known as "dockless," the service already operates in other parts of the world, such as China and Germany, and involves leaving bikes "free" on the streets, available to users via an app that unlocks the selected vehicle. At the end of the trip, riders can leave the bicycle wherever is convenient, and it locks itself, remaining available for the next user.
This approach allows the units to be distributed much more organically across the city than the station-based model. Security concerns regarding theft will not be an issue, according to the company, as the bicycles feature specific characteristics that prevent their components from being stolen.
A steel frame, lack of gears, locking saddle, and solid, custom-sized tires reduce the resale value of the vehicles. Additionally, all bicycles will be equipped with GPS, allowing the company to monitor the exact location of each unit.
Yellow plans to launch its fleet in July, initially covering São Paulo's expanded center. The goal, however, is for the units to eventually reach the outskirts. Depending on the success of the service in São Paulo, the company intends to expand to other Brazilian cities, having already mapped out 30 potential candidates.
Source: Folha de S. Paulo.
This article was written by Romullo Baratto. The translation is powered by AI.
