Bubi 3.0 in the pipeline
The new public bicycle-sharing system comes with twice as my bikes and suburban coverage
A new public bike-sharing system accessible to every second Budapest resident has been announced by the Municipality of Budapest and BKK Centre for Budapest Transport for 2026. The Bubi 3.0 system will double the current fleet size and will allow the rental of electric bicycles as well as conventional ones. The new fleet and stations will also offer shared bicycle use to people living in neighbourhoods beyond the current service area, such as Örs vezér tere, Kőbánya-Kispest or Újpest-Városkapu.
A wider range of users will be able to share bikes with Bubi 3.0, which is planned to be launched in 2026 with a fleet of modern electric bikes and an extended service area covering more outlying areas. All this was announced in conjunction with the inauguration of a new station at Kopaszi-gát in the BudaPart residential area, announced by Mayor Gergely Karácsony and Dr. Katalin Walter, CEO of BKK.
Bubi 2.0 is a success story
Dr. Katalin Walter, CEO of BKK, said at the event, "Bubi 2.0 is perhaps one of our most beloved success stories, which speaks for itself in terms of numbers: we have exceeded 8 million riders, and the number of stations has increased from 158 to 208 as of today. The evolution of the Bubi system has mirrored the evolution of cycling and the development of the cycling network in Budapest: all ages now ride the public bikes, with a five- to eightfold increase in ridership after the radical renewal of Bubi 1.0. In the transition from 1.0 to 2.0, we have taken into account customer needs and the potential of digital development, and we are determined to continue to improve the service in Bubi 3.0," said the CEO. "We will continue on this path with Bubi 3.0., which will provide a sustainable transport alternative in the future for hundreds of thousands of Budapest residents living in inner and suburban areas," she added.
BKK started the preparatory work for Bubi 3.0 months ago. The company will shortly launch a market consultation to select the service best suited to the city's needs in a public procurement process starting in the autumn, after learning from international best practices. The aim is to launch a public procurement procedure that will allow the system to be flexibly expanded in the future. It is important for BKK to continuously assess customer needs: an online questionnaire launched today is currently being used to gauge how satisfied city-dwellers are with Bubi.
Double-sized fleet and e-bikes
Commenting on Bubi 3.0, Gergely Karácsony said: “We wanted to develop a system that would bring Budapest into the 21st century and project a vision of a city of the future. That's why Bubi 3.0. will go live in January 2026 with a fleet of at least 4,500 bicycles, the double of the current size, and suburban coverage. In addition, not only conventional but also electrically powered bicycles will be part of the fleet, making cycling accessible to a wider range of users". The mayor added that with Bubi 3.0, all major transport hubs with at least 30,000 trips - such as Örs Vezér tere, Kőbánya-Kispest, Újpest-Városkapu, József Attila housing estate, Angyalföld, Zugló or Őrmező, all beyond the boundaries of the current service area - will be accessible, while maintaining capacity in more central locations. Moreover, bicycles will also be available at Mobi-Points.
More and more people ride Bubi bikes every year
MOL Bubi has been growing in popularity for years: the latest BKK summary for last year shows that in 2023, people in Budapest used the public bike service more than 3.4 million times, covering a total of nearly 7 million kilometres. Since the launch of the new MOL Bubi on 20 May 2021, more than 8 million journeys have been made on bicycles. The huge interest is reflected in the orders of magnitude improvement in utilisation levels compared to Bubi 1.0: 5-8 times more people chose MOL Bubi last year compared to the last full year of the previous scheme (2019).
Every year, more and more stations become available to users. In September last year, during Mobility Week, the number of MOL Bubi stations reached 200, and six new locations were added in March this year. Together with the new station at Kopaszi-gát, which is part of the BudaPart residential area, there are now 208 stations at users’ disposal.
BKK