The episode in detail
From handball to the bike, a change of career out of necessity
Serge Devillers is from Brussels, a former competitive handball player who turned to cycling after two torn cruciate ligaments. The bike has been part of his life since childhood, first as a way of getting to Scout meetings and sports training, then as a bike commuting tool at Danone and Bridgestone. Today, he rides an electric city bike to see his clients and prospects around Brussels.
“The bike is a form of freedom. I’ve always done it that way.”
His relationship with bike commuting has changed with the stages of his life: a road bike in sports gear with a shower at the office at Danone, an old city bike with a child seat to drop his daughter off at nursery, then a professional electric bike for HOOBA.
HOOBA: soft mobility hubs for businesses
Founded in January 2020 in Brussels, HOOBA helps businesses and local authorities set up soft mobility hubs. The concept: install fleets of bikes, electric bikes, cargo bikes and scooters at workplaces, accessible to employees through a mobile app for booking and unlocking them.
“We offer vehicles, we provide everything needed to keep them in good condition, and a mobile app that allows these vehicles to be shared, booked and secured among employees.”
The offer covers the whole chain: vehicles, maintenance, repairs, theft insurance, breakdown assistance, branding in the company’s colours, accessories, internal communication materials and usage rules. The company pays a fixed fee per bike per month. Use is free for employees, which removes the cost barrier compared with a company car that is already paid for.
Mobility hub versus free floating
Unlike free floating (bikes and scooters for public self-service use), HOOBA deploys private fleets with return to the starting point. Two major advantages: availability is guaranteed since only company members have access, and there is no per-minute cost for the user.
An employee can open the app from their desk, see which bikes are available, go down, unlock a bike and leave. No key to look for, no heavy process. Fleets can also cover several sites of the same company, letting employees move from one building to another.
“The difficulty with free floating is that the employee doesn’t know whether there will be a bike available when they need one, and it’s going to cost per minute.”
Covid and remote work as accelerators
HOOBA was launched in January 2020, three months before the lockdown. For a year and a half, the team sowed the seeds. The real take-off came afterwards, driven by a change in mindset: remote work made many employees realise they no longer needed a company car to get to the office every day.
In Belgium, the new mobility budget makes using a bike financially more attractive. For Serge, this combination of remote work and tax incentives changes everything. Even Belgian weather is no longer an absolute barrier: you can start the day working remotely and set off once the rain shower has passed.
“Using the bike mustn’t be a chore. We’re not here to hurt ourselves. It has to be enjoyable.”
Driving change within businesses
Providing bikes is not enough on its own. HOOBA runs on-site engagement sessions: presenting the bikes in the reception hall, helping people download the app, guided first rides. Mobility Week in September is a key moment for these events.
Serge’s observation: once an employee has used the service for the first time, they always come back to it. The electric bike plays a decisive role, especially in Brussels with its hills. It lets you arrive without sweating at 25 km/h, in areas often limited to 30.
The final aim is twofold: to cover professional trips during the day, and to let employees try out the home-to-work commute in real conditions before investing in their own bike.
Teaching by example, from childhood
Father of two daughters, Serge takes his children to school by bike with a trailer. For him, promoting bike commuting comes through teaching by example from an early age, a cultural shift where the bike is seen as an effective mode of transport rather than a fallback choice, and ongoing investment in cycling infrastructure to make routes safer.
“There are still people today for whom a nice car is something very important. We need to get to a point where we see the bike as the most effective means of transport in certain cases.”
With HOOBA still a small two-person outfit, Serge is aiming for coverage of the whole of Belgium within five years, working with local bike dealers. The ambition stays regional: staying Belgian, perhaps Benelux, but keeping the local roots that make the model strong.
