Smoove, member of the Cycling Industry Club, is the official bike share provider for COP22, in Marrakesh. This year they "installed a fleet of 1,500 bikes in Helsinki, as well as fleets in Vancouver, Canada, and in Shymkent and Almaty in Kazakhstan during the summer". We are proud to celebrate with them these important milestone, setting a new benchmark in the cycling world.

Smoove won the tender organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to roll out a fleet of self-service bikes for COP22, which is taking place from 7-18 November 2016 in Marrakesh. ECF's Secretary General Bernhard Ensink will attend COP22 and, together with Smoove's Medina Bike, will bring forth the perks of bicycles before the negotiators of all the countries of the world.

Marrakesh will lead the way for Africa

Medina Bike, set up in partnership with the local organisation Estates Vision, will make of Marrakesh the first city in Africa to benefit from a self-service bike system. The fleet, which features 300 bikes and around 10 stations, will be installed in the most emblematic locations of the city, such as Koutoubia or Majorelle Garden, as an answer to King Mohammed VI’s and the Moroccan Government’s desire for practical initiatives on sustainable development for COP 22. The 22nd session of the Conference of Parties will bring together 197 States and, according to the organisers, will be the COP of action.

“Like in France, the bike was one of the main means of transport in Marrakesh, but has gradually lost ground" said Laurent Mercat, CEO of Smoove. "And you can tell that a person is from Marrakesh if they have a bicycle at the front of their house! Medina Bike is what will revive cycling. We are very proud to have won this prestigious tender. It marks our commitment to finding solutions to promote self-service bike systems for more pleasant and greener cities".

Revolutionary design and technologies

Smoove is one of the leading self-service bike systems in the world thanks to its innovative solutions: smart, robust bikes with embedded communication technology (“Smoove Box”) and light, free-standing stations powered by solar energy and not requiring civil engineering during installation. Its technological know-how has enabled it to offer an “overflow” feature so that a bike can be returned even if the station is full. Thanks to these competitive advantages, Smoove has experienced accelerated international growth this year.

Smoove generated EUR 8 million in revenue in 2016. This revenue, like the number of employees, has doubled every two years since the company was formed. The objectives for 2017 are even more ambitious. 15% of the revenue is reinvested in R&D to meet the demands of the city of the future (e-Bikes, bluetooth connection, mobile application, IoT, etc.) to better “facilitate sustainable mobility”.

Which is why Smoove is an active member of the Smarter Cycling initiative the ECF is carrying on to push thto ecycling industry to evolve and become part of the emerging Smart Mobility paradigm. Great opportunities lie ahead for innovative companies: we want to make sure they know how to access them.