Tel Aviv Municipality has announced that it is closing down the Tel-O-Fun bicycle rental venture. By August, the 1,900 distinctive bright green bicycles and their docking stations, which began operating in 2011, will vanish from the city's landscape, driven off the streets by the greater convenience and efficiency of electric-bikes and scooters.
The Municipality said, "In recent years there has been a gradual reduction in the amount of use due to the development of the electric bicycle and scooter market. The private ventures for renting bicycles and scooters in the city, which offer thousands of vehicles to all who require it, will continue to operate according to the instructions, rules and arrangements. At the same time, the municipality is mulling operations of a ridesharing electric bicycle venture that would allow travel over greater distances in the Gush Dan region."
Tel Aviv Municipality had been under control with Tel-O-Fun's operator until 2021 but due to shrinking use decided to end the agreement early.
Tel Aviv-Yafo Mayor Ron Huldia said, "With the private market providing good ridesharing alternatives, there is no justification for investing public money in a service with such a low level of demand. Just as public telephones became unnecessary and were removed from public spaces where they became an obstacle, such is the case now."
He added, "Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality will continue to invest tens of millions of shekels each year in paving cycle paths and in several months we will launch our strategic program 'bicycle city 2025': to raise the level of journeys with personal devices (bicycles and scooters) to 20% by 2025 by networking and paving bicycle paths, a supporting infrastructure project, investment in education and promotion, and more."
This year the Municipality plans paving an additional 20 kilometers of bicycle paths to add to the existing 130 kilometer network of paths in the city."
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