Bergen's bike-sharing system ends

The latest Bergen/Vestland news from the past 48 hours: Bergen Municipality is removing its bike-sharing system on November 1, the Statens vegvesen is presenting an NOK 8.7 billion tunnel project to take the E39 out of the village of Hylkje, and the midwives at Stord Hospital are opposing a proposal to merge their executive board with Haugesund. In sports, Bodø/Glimt beat Viking in a close match, leaving the race for the title level (Bergens Tidende).

Bergen / Vestland News: End of Bike-Sharing on 1 November

Bergen City Council had announced in August that the bike-sharing system would be discontinued as of 1 November (NRK Bergen / Vestland). According to the municipality, usage is declining and operation costs between 10 and 12 million kroner per year. The system is to be replaced by an agreement with commercial e-scooter rental companies, which will also have to offer electric bike rentals.

On Friday evening, the Critical Mass group — which campaigns for bicycles and cyclists’ rights and regularly organises cycling actions in several cities, including Bergen — protested against the discontinuation. Hannah Rosnes was among those present. “I use the bike-sharing bikes several times a day. It is important for us who are older. We go out and get there faster,” she told NRK. She also emphasises that these bikes are different from e-scooters.

E39: A tunnel costing 8.7 billion kroner proposed at Hylkje

Approximately 25,000 vehicles pass through the section of the E39 between Bergen and Nordhordland every day, travelling through the village of Hylkje, north of Bergen. The road is narrow and winding in places, regularly causing accidents and queues lasting several hours. Since the Nordhordland Bridge was built in 1994, this nine-kilometre stretch has seen several accidents, some of them fatal (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Statens vegvesen has now presented a proposed route. The main option is to build a tunnel between the Nordhordland Bridge and Vågsbotn. The cost is estimated at 8.7 billion kroner. According to the roads authority, traffic on the current E39 will fall by 70 to 90 % once the tunnel is open, which will represent “a major improvement for those who live along” the current road (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Vestland: Midwives at Stord fear a disguised closure

At Stord hospital in Vestland county, a proposal to merge the management of Stord and Haugesund’s maternity and gynaecology services would leave the hospital without a department head. Employees and the national Midwives’ Federation (Jordmorforbundet NSF) see this as the first step towards closing the maternity ward (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Gunn Siglen, a mother of four from Fitjar, has just given birth at Stord after 15 hours of labour. “It’s very good and safe to give birth here,” she tells NRK. In the corridors, the concern is not about childbirth but about the future of the department. “We’ve seen this happen several times across the country in recent years. Small functions are taken away from local hospitals, which in the long term dismantles the entire hospital,” says an employee representative, adding that staff have lost trust in Helse Fonna.

Bergen: Man in his 30s prosecuted for embezzlement

Among the other Bergen / Vestland news stories from the past two days is an embezzlement case: a man in his 30s is being prosecuted for buying wine and artwork with his company’s money (NRK Bergen / Vestland). “Above all, this is a sad case that we had hoped to resolve another way. When that was not possible, we are obviously relieved that charges have been filed,” says attorney Jan Magne Isaksen, who represents director Øystein Danielsen of the Bergen-based company NF Engros.

The latter had reported the matter to the police four years ago, believing he had extensive evidence that two of his employees had embezzled more than 2 million kroner. The police had closed the case, citing insufficient capacity. The tax administration and insolvency practitioners then issued further allegations of tax fraud and accounting violations, related to companies that had previously been wound up. “The sense of justice is strengthened,” the attorney summarizes (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

📌 Local briefs

Other Bergen / Vestland news in brief: around 19:30 on Thursday, a truck carrying fish and fish waste lost its load on the E39 just east of the centre of Førde. Three cars were involved, six people were in the vehicles, and two were taken to emergency care, one complaining of back pain (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

A man in his thirties, a Norwegian citizen living in Sunnhordland, has been arrested in Spain. He was wanted internationally and is suspected of several serious offences committed in Stord: arson, violence in a close relationship, rape and drug law offences (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Two Norwegian citizens arrested in Bergen are described by German authorities as “Hamas operators”. They are being prosecuted in Norway and deny the allegations. Eight men were named in Germany in September in the same investigation (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

Former NRK presenter NRK Ronny Brede Aase underwent emergency surgery for a detached retina, he said himself. He will be unable to fly or cross the mountains for several weeks (NRK Bergen / Vestland).

In Bergen, one person devotes 700 volunteer hours to a free haunted house while claiming not to like Halloween (Bergens Tidende).

Sources: NRK Bergen / Vestland, Bergens Tidende, The Local Norway — Period: 30 October 2026 and 31 October 2026