Chinese start-up Ofo is expected to bring 50 new bikes onto the streets of Luxembourg City in a bikesharing scheme that will complement Vel’oh! Delano archives

Chinese start-up Ofo is expected to bring 50 new bikes onto the streets of Luxembourg City in a bikesharing scheme that will complement Vel’oh! Delano archives

The news was reported by Luxembourg daily the Luxemburger Wort, which said on Monday that Ofo was in negotiations with the sustainable development and infrastructure ministry on the matter.

If agreed, the bikes would be located between Kirchberg and Luxembourg-Centre, where take-up is increasing, and Belval.

For this second site, close to the University of Luxembourg, “this would allow the scientific community to participate in mobility studies with which Ofo would like to be associated”, world development manager Tobias Fischer was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Compared to Vel'oh!, The special feature of Ofo is that it does not use any pick-up or drop-off station, the removal of the bike being done through an application and a QR code, making the system more fluid.

The cost is expected to be  lower than Vel’oh! at around €1 per hour, a fee which is subsidised by advertising revenues from the application.

Founded in 2014 by a teacher and four students from Peking University, Ofo is developing its bikesharing service in China, the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria and in Thailand.

By 2018, the start-up said it expects to also establish a presence in the Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands.