Stockholm City Bikes

Stockholm City Bikes is the name of a public-private partnership project of the City of Stockholm in Sweden and the outdoor advertising unit of Clear Channel Communications.

It is a community bicycle program that allows renting a bicycle for a maximum period of 3 hours, between 06:00 and 21:00 (last rental at 18:00).

Rental System

The rental system requires a membership and a rental card. These are obtained by buying a season card (for 200 Swedish kronor SEK) or 3-day card (for 125 Swedish kronor SEK). Rental cards can be bought at "SL centres" (SL is Stockholm's public transportation company) and require registration with personal identification containing the Swedish national identification number called personnummer. For foreigners a passport is required.

Several one-day rental periods can be loaded onto a rental card, but once it has expired it cannot be reloaded again with a new rental period.

Stockholm's rental system is available between April 1^st and October 31^st, unlike other public bicycle programs that are available throughout the year.

Hubs

There are currently (May 2008) 67 rental hubs. Each hub contains between 9 to 24 bikes. The rental card is swiped over a reader and a computer screen displays the number of the bike that is being unlocked. The user now has 3 hours to return the bike (i.e. lock) to any of the approximately 40 hubs in the city. If the bike is not returned, the rental card is automatically and permanently blocked by the computer system. If the bike is not returned at all the user might become liable since each card is registered with personal identification number.

The project was launched in the fall of 2006. During 2007 the system is expected to have 1000 bicycles and about 80 hubs in Stockholm. [cite web | last = Hanson | first = Matilda | title = Lånecyklar hotade | publisher = Svenska Dagbladet | date = 2007-07-01 | url = http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/stockholm24/did_16032014.asp
accessdate =2007-07-11]

Financing

The season card entitles the buyer to receive a free bicycle helmet that is decorated with advertising. The entire system is financed by advertising sold and managed by Clear Channel Communications. Currently the only advertiser is Alvedon, a Swedish/British paracetamol-based drug.

Clear Channel Communications runs similar projects in Barcelona and Oslo with identical bikes and hub systems.

Complications

The system has been criticised for being somewhat complicated for foreigners who do not understand Swedish. Moreover, the hubs sometimes physically lock the bikes to the hubs, but do not register the fact in the computer system, resulting in blocked rental cards. [cite web | last = Hanson | first = Matilda | title = Lånecyklar hotade | publisher = Svenska Dagbladet | date = 2007-07-01 | url = http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/stockholm24/did_16032014.asp
accessdate =2007-07-11]

Furthermore, the rental hubs have been vandalised during night time resulting in bicycle thefts and destroyed bicycles and hubs. Management of the project has stated that if vandalism is not limited, the project might become too expensive and eventually canceled. [cite web | last = Hanson | first = Matilda | title = Lånecyklar hotade | publisher = Svenska Dagbladet | date = 2007-07-01 | url = http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/stockholm24/did_16032014.asp
accessdate =2007-07-11]

References

Other similar systems

As of 2007, similar schemes are also in effect in other European cities, including Aix-en-Provence, Rouen, Barcelona (Bicing), Brussels, Copenhagen, Lyon (Vélo'v), Nantes (Bicloo), Paris (Vélib), Toulouse, Pamplona (Cemusa), OYBike, Call a Bike (Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich, Karlsruhe), Copenhagen/Helsinki/Aarhus (CIOS), Oslo, Sandnes, Seville (Sevici) and Vienna.

ee also

* Clear Channel Communications
* Stockholm Municipality
* Public-private partnership
* Community bicycle program

External links

* [http://www.stockholmcitybikes.se Stockholm City Bikes' homepage (in Swedish)]

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