As a premiere for Bucharest, the Romanian member of ECF "Green Revolution Association", together with Raiffeisen Bank and Kaufland România, announced the launch of the first bike sharing system I’Velo Urban. The bicycles are free of charge for the first 30 minutes and can be picked up and dropped off at any station within the city.

The bike sharing system will help to ease traffic jams in Bucharest and contribute to a better urban mobility. It will encourage citizens of Bucharest to overthink their use of transportation and switch to a more healthy and faster mode of transportation by combining public transportation with bicycle sharing to travel fast in the crowded areas of the city.

"I’Velo Urban is a very ambitious and brave project. The purpose is to get people out of their comfort area, from the couch and from the car and to promote together movement in a healthy style and under secure conditions. We are very pleased to be part of this project, that integrates in our environmental protection actions and promotes a healthy lifestyle.", declared Anna Katharina Scheidereiter, representative of Kaufland Romania.

Through I’Velo Urban project, we managed to put Bucharest on the map of the capital cities with a bike-sharing system. We invite the people from Bucharest to choose the bicycle: a flexible and healthy addition to public transportation.", Corina Vasile, Communication and Public Relations Manager of Raiffeisen Bank, says.

“I’Velo Urban represents the natural continuation of the projects that promote the use of bicycles in the major cities of Romania, started by us 6 years ago. With projects like “I’Velo Relax”, “studentObike”, “Bicycles with ties”, “Bike2Work”, we have proven that bicycles are very popular in Romania for leisure and with I’Velo Urban it can and must become an everyday transportation mode.”, declared Raluca Fișer, president of Green Revolution Association and ECF board Vice President.

"We are very pleased with the rise of the public bike schemes all over the world and we think that the Romanian capital Bucharest will benefit a lot from their I’Velo program. While in 2001 only a few public bike schemes were used all over the globe, in 2012 already 400 schemes were in existence and with the new addition in Bucharest we are confident and excited to see the trend growing. For livable cities public bike schemes are becoming a must." Manfred Neun, ECF board President, says.