nextbike

nextbike Logo
nextbike
Industry Urban transport
Founded 2004 (2004)
Founder Ralf Kalupner
Headquarters Leipzig, Germany
Key people
Ralf Kalupner (CEO)
Products Bicycle sharing systems
Website www.nextbike.net

nextbike is a German company that develops and operates public bike-sharing systems. The company was founded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2004. It operates about 30,000 bikes in Germany and several other countries around the world such as USA, UK, New Zealand, Poland, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland.[1] The headquarters as well as the production facilities with about 100 employees are based in Leipzig. The bicycles and stations are maintained by local service partners.

The bike sharing schemes can be initiated by cities and franchise partners. The operating costs are financed by rental fees and the sale of advertising space on the bikes themselves. nextbike also provides mobility programmes for colleges or universities and companies.

Usage

Bicycle users are normally obtained through a subscription system, where each bike is locked to either itself or to a rental station. If using a stand-alone lock, the bike is rented via a mobile phone call or the mobile app, which provides the locking code. The bikes can be returned via app, hotline, terminal or board computer. There are cities with a flex zone allowing users to return the bike anywhere within a defined area.

Projects

national projects

nextbike operates in German cities such as Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg and Dresden.[2] The biggest implementations of the system in Germany are in Ruhr, with 3,000 bikes,[3] and Nuremberg, with 750 bikes and 66 stations.[4] Besides large cities, nextbike also serves about 20 smaller German cities, like Tübingen, where it has 40 bikes.[5]

Berlin

In 2016 nextbike won the tender to operate the new bike sharing system in the city of Berlin which will be launched with 2000 bikes in spring of 2017.[6] After the extension is finished 5000 bikes at 700 stations will be available.[7] Berlin will then own the biggest bike sharing system in Germany.

KVB-Rad

Since 2015 nextbike together with the public transport company of Cologne offer around 1000 bikes for rent. They are available everywhere within the flex zone and complement the public transport system.[8]

Metropolradruhr

metropolradruhr was launched in 2010 as the biggest regional bike sharing system in Germany. It links ten cities such as Dortmund, Bochum, Essen and Oberhausen. Bikes can be returned in any of these ten cities.[9]

ebikestationen

In 2013 the region of Stuttgart started the e-bike project 'Netz-E-2-R' which includes five administrative districts. E-bikes can be rent at 15 covered stations.[10]

VRNnextbike

In 2015 nextbike together with the transport association of the Rhine-Neckar region launched another cross-city bike sharing system with more than 400 bikes connecting Mannheim, Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen and since 2016 also Bensheim and Speyer.[11] nextbike cooperates with local universities and colleges offering special conditions for students.[12]

international projects

At an international level, nextbike operates in Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Poland, New Zealand, Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Dubai, Hungary, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. Two of the biggest public bike rental schemes operated by nextbike are Veturilo[13] in Warsaw with 2,600 bikes and MOL BuBi[14] in Budapest. In 2014, several bike sharing schemes were launched in the UK, including the cities of Bath,[15] Glasgow,[16] Milton Keynes[17] and Stirling.[18] In April 2015 a new public hire scheme was launched in Belfast, branded Belfast Bikes [19] Schemes in the United States include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, West Palm Beach, Florida and Hoboken, New Jersey.

nextbike bike

See also

References

  1. nextbike company profile
  2. nextbike locations
  3. metropolradruhr project
  4. NorisBike project in Nuremberg (in German)
  5. The alternative to taking public transport in Tübingen is the bike-hiring system “nextbike”
  6. "Zukünftig bietet neues Leihfahrradsystem mehr als 700 Stationen und 5000 Räder". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  7. "Zukünftig bietet neues Leihfahrradsystem mehr als 700 Stationen und 5000 Räder". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  8. www.adovo.de, Vipex Media Services GmbH | www.vipex.de | CMS: AdOvo. "Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG". www.kvb-koeln.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  9. Fahrradverleih, metropolradruhr |. "Fahrradverleih im Ruhrgebiet - metropolradruhr". www.metropolradruhr.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  10. "Pressemitteilung Rems-Murr-Kreis" (PDF).
  11. "nextbike - regionales Fahrradvermietsystem". www.vrn.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  12. "Studierende - VRN nextbike". www.vrnnextbike.de. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  13. Veturilo scheme in Warsaw
  14. Bubi scheme in Budapest
  15. Bath to get cycling with city’s own ‘Boris Bikes’ scheme
  16. Glasgow unveils bike hire scheme at 31 city locations
  17. Duncan, Jessica (17 June 2016). "'Santander Cycles Milton Keynes have arrived". OneMK. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  18. nextbike UK
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