Prague Retenders Its Bikeshare Subsidy and Pays More to Reach the Edges

Prague's city cabinet, meeting in extraordinary session, has approved the intent of a public contract called Bikesharing in PID Lítačka 2026 and decided to launch the procurement once the statutory conditions are met. The announcement came through ROPID as a Prague City Hall press release.

The substance is not that the scheme continues but how the money is now to be steered. Support will be differentiated by a coefficient reflecting the kind of urban environment in which a ride starts or ends, with the higher of the two relevant coefficients applied. The city core carries a coefficient of 0.5, reflecting dense demand and better operating economics. The centre and the "heterogeneous city" carry 1, the baseline. The "modernist city and landscape" carries 2, for lower demand density and higher operating cost.

City Hall says the coefficients also take account of public transport network density, which is higher in the middle of the city and naturally falls towards the edges. In other words, the city is paying twice as much per ride precisely where its own trams and metro do not reach — which is the first time the bikeshare benefit has been used as anything other than a flat top-up.

Shared bikes have become an inseparable part of Prague's transport and an excellent complement to public transport, which is confirmed by more than three and a half million rides made. With the new contract we want not only to preserve this successful benefit but above all to move it to a higher level. From 2027 Praguers will be able to borrow shared bikes up to four times a day.

— Jaromír Beránek, deputy mayor for transport

What the benefit will look like

The subsidy pays for supported rides of 15 minutes for users registered in PID Lítačka who also hold a long-term public transport pass — a monthly coupon or longer. The minimum age of 18 comes from the operators' own terms; the maximum of 65 comes from the conditions for holding a long-term PID coupon.

The current allowance is two rides a day. The new arrangement sets a maximum of ten rides a week, or four a day once the new version of the PID Lítačka app is introduced.

The estimated value of the contract is 50 million crowns excluding VAT, reflecting an expected term of roughly two years. The sole award criterion is the lowest price per supported 15-minute ride, and contracts will be signed with the second and third bidders too, provided their price does not exceed the lowest bid by more than 25 per cent — up to three suppliers in total, which the city frames as keeping a competitive market after award and improving availability for users.

Public space is the other half of the deal

Entry to the procurement is conditional on signing an open-house agreement with the Technical Road Administration (TSK), and the docking locations included in the PID Lítačka benefit are to be those under TSK's contractual regime. The city cites the new conditions arising from that TSK contract and from Prague's general ordinance 16/2025 on the local fee for use of public space as one reason for retendering now.

Read together with the coefficients, that is the shape of the thing: the money follows demand outward, and the parking follows a contract the road administration holds. City Hall lists the pressure on public space among the risks, alongside the financial demands of the service itself.

The existing scheme has run in Prague since 2022. City Hall reports more than 3.6 million rides and around 100,000 users since it began, and says the design of the new tender draws on both the 2022 procurement and a preliminary market consultation held between February and March 2026. The intent is presented as consistent with the Sustainable Mobility Plan for Prague and its Surroundings, the Active Mobility Strategy and the city's Climate Plan to 2030.