Electric bike success in Toulouse

A total of 350 bicycles, half of which are electric, are being added to Toulouse’s fleet of self-service city bikes.

The expansion began on September 30, with plans also including 12 new stations in Toulouse and 33 in surrounding towns including: Aucamville (2), Balma (1), Blagnac (16), Labège (4), Ramonville (6), and Tournefeuille (4).

The metropole of Toulouse now has 3,650 self-service bikes and 445 stations, and has gained over 67,000 subscriptions to the vélôToulouse network since it launched in August 2024. 

The initiative responds to a growing demand for this low-impact transport option. 

“On September 18, 2025, we hit a new record with 53,036 [bike] journeys completed in just 24 hours,” stated vélôToulouse on social media. More than 29,000 journeys are made per day on average. 

A similar trend across France

The number of city bikes has also increased in Paris, where an extra 6,000 bicycles provided by Swedish company Voi were introduced on October 1. This date marks four years since self-service electric bikes have been available in the capital under operators Lime and Dott. 

Voi offers competitive prices at €0.25 per minute with no base fee, and is already used in French cities including Marseille, Le Havre and Grenoble, as well as in London.

Public bike networks exist in most cities around France, including Nantes, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Nice. Metz added 385 electric bikes to its self-service fleet in September, and Lyon introduced 2,500 electric bikes this spring. Councillors have announced plans to increase Lyon’s existing network to offer 670 km of cycle lanes connecting all areas of the metropole by 2030. 

Despite the popularity of self-service bikes, acts of vandalism are also rising, with vélôToulouse confirming they “have been facing an increasing amount of misuse and vandalism since the arrival of the new vélôToulouse bikes.” 

One Instagram user in Toulouse said they have “never seen so much incivility on new bicycles.”