Programme to lease bicycles to low-income families

The Brussels Capital-Region is planning to launch a cycle leasing programme for low-income families. It is part of the region’s overall outreach efforts to get under-represented groups into cycling for work, school and to run errands.

The region has co-sponsored such cycling campaigns as Kidical Mass in Molenbeek and cycle training for women with Pro Velo. These efforts were in response to international studies that show that women are much less likely to commute by bicycle than were men and also that they spend a lot of time shuttling non-cycling children to and from school. In Brussels, only 36% of people regularly travelling by bicycle are women.

Now the region is developing a leasing plan so that people living on low incomes can afford to keep a bicycle. Details of the plan have not yet been released, but it would come with coaching on cycling in Brussels.

Mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt said that her department hopes to launch the programme by the end of the year. It will be coupled with a communication and promotion campaign that will help to dispel the image of cyclists as young, sporty men.

©Benoit Doppagne/BELGA