The announcement was made on the sidelines of Iran’s Second Specialized Urban Bicycle Exhibition and Sustainable Transportation Exhibition that was held in Tehran’s Hejab Hall on July 2-4.
Affiliated to Tehran Municipality, Bdood aims to promote cleaner modes of transportation in the capital, the event’s website reported.
During the event, bicycle and electric bike makers and distributors unveiled their latest products, according to Financial Tribune.
A bicycle delivery service was unveiled by a local startup that is yet to become operational.
One of the other participants of the event was Iran’s first smart bike rental platform dubbed Bdood (pronounced “BEE-Dood”, literally meaning zero-emission) that was launched last July during the 24th Iran International Electronic, Computer and E-Commerce International Exhibition, aka Elecomp 2018.
With 300 bikes and 26 stations, the startup started offering services in Tehran’s districts 2 and 6. To further expand its operations, Bdood has launched 24 new stations throughout the capital.
Promoting bikes as cleaner modes of transportation has been high on Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi’s agenda since he took office in November 2018.
In line with its program for promoting eco-friendly transport, Tehran Municipality will invest 170 billion rials ($1.3 million) to develop biking facilities.
“As per the fiscal 2019-20 budget law, Tehran Municipality is to get a 189.3-trillion-rial [$1.4 billion] budget, of which over 169.05 billion rials [$1.3 million] are to be spent on promoting non-motorized transport,” Deputy Tehran Mayor Sakineh Ashrafi told ISNA.
Non-motorized transportation (also known as active transportation and human-powered transportation) includes walking and biking.
"The money for promoting human-powered transportation will be spent on promoting biking, establishing new bicycle lanes and renovating the existing lanes,” she said.
Ashrafi said 6.5 billion rials ($50,000) will go for development and maintenance of biking facilities.
About two years ago, an initiative was launched to set up bike lending centers and provide bicycles in education centers and travel zones to encourage biking in the metropolises of Tehran, Mashhad and Yazd.
In Tehran, 50 terminals were set up mostly in crowded downtown areas and near interchange subway stations and tourist sites that offer a total of 7,000 gearless bicycles. The terminals are located near main city squares, including Hafte-Tir, Tohid, Enqelab and Azadi.
With help from startups and the private sector, Tehran Municipality is set to promote biking as a smart and green mode of transport that can help curb traffic congestion and improve air quality.