Free shared bikes for everyone: Lisbon’s proposal for mobility support

At first, this will be available to the city’s youth and seniors, and then to all residents

Local, regional and national authorities around Europe are thinking of ways to alleviate the inflation pressure on citizens caused by energy shortages. In that light, the City Council of Lisbon has decided to implement a two-step measure, which will see making the municipal bicycle-sharing network, GIRA, free of charge for residents of the Portuguese capital.

The proposal was approved at a council meeting on 9 November, together with other support measures for vulnerable groups and small businesses affected by a multitude of crises.

What are the two steps?

Since the summer, public transport has already been free to use for two groups of Lisboners: young people under the age of 23, and seniors over 65. For this purpose, they were issued special Navegante Pass cards, which they have to recharge monthly. However, this happens without placing any credit on them – think of it more as a continuous re-affirmation of service usage.

This measure by the Municipality of Lisbon is part of the goals for environmental sustainability, the fight against climate change and the improvement of people's mobility, through the promotion of efficient, economically and environmentally sustainable mobility.

Plus, there’s also the cost-of-living element. With that in mind, the authorities have now decided to also expand the payless option to the shared bicycles (GIRA) for the above two groups, starting from the first quarter of 2023.

However, in the second phase, "to be determined in due course, considering, among other factors, its impact in terms of the system's operability, in all its variables, the (Council) should foresee in the future that the measure" will be extended "to the citizens of the city of Lisbon, with tax residence in the municipality", and between the ages of 24 and 64.

That means, that at some point the plan is for the shared bikes to become free to use for everyone who lives in Lisbon. Users, however, will have to register separately for the GIRA service in order to use the bikes.