AbstractOne of the problems in bicycle sharing systems design is the estimation of the potential demand to the service, especially in countries where this type of systems is not yet implemented. The main objective of this methodology is to relate the demand of bike-sharing systems with external characteristics that affects the bicycle usage in order to obtain its territorial distribution. Due to the limited information available in Portugal this paper will focus on the determination of demand based on the experience of other countries. The method is applied to a middle size Portuguese city, Coimbra.