Manfred has entered into partnership with the bicycle manufacturer Csepel, which has joined the service as a franchise partner.

As a result, 2,000 refurbished bicycles owned by Csepel, previously used in the previous Bubi scheme, and another 500 new e-bikes will be available in almost the entire area of Budapest within days.

This coverage is several times that of the previous Bubi system.

The monthly rental fee for pedal bicycles will be Ft 2,500, and the extended rental fee, which also applies to electric bicycles, is planned to be Ft 5,000 per month.

Launched by Sense/Net, a Hungarian tech company, the timing of their arrival is no coincidence. They spotted a market gap created by Bubi’s temporary absence in Budapest and quickly rode in to fill it.

The exciting addition that sets Manfred apart from the Bubi 2.0 experience is the inclusion of electric bikes in their fleet. Some of these e-bikes come from the pilot program that Manfred ran in Budapest’s 2nd District starting in October 2025, while others are brand new bikes. 

While anyone might expect the two Budapest bike sharing services to be competitors, Tamás Bíró, a founder of Sense/Net, has an alternative perspective.

He believes Budapest can comfortably accommodate between 10,000 and 15,000 shared bikes across the city, and the upgraded Bubi 3.0 fleet is expected to top out at around 5,000 max. 

In other words, there’s plenty of room for both outfits to thrive. Manfred’s vision isn’t to steal Bubi’s thunder but to coexist with it, he says, and crucially, to reach parts of the city that public bike-sharing hasn’t served well yet. 

Plans are already underway to expand toward Budapest’s outer districts, areas that have so far been underserved by bike-sharing.

More: 
Manfred.hu
 

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