One of the things we got to pick up fairly quickly in Europe was the use of bike-share schemes to get around the various cities we visited. This definitely made it a lot easier to explore the many attractions and features there, compared to (say) walking. And usually the cost to do it was fairly minimal (certainly compared to the alternative costs of public transport, Ubers/taxis, and the like).
By far the most ubiquitous was Lime Bikes (& scooters), which we encountered in most cities we visited (and of course are also present here in Christchurch). Having the LimeBike app already on our phones also made finding and unlocking them very straightforward too.
Even better was during our time in Rimini, Italy, attending the VeloCity Cycle Conference – attendance there allowed for free use of LimeBike and Bit Mobility bikes and scooters all week. I even managed to wangle a “group ride” option to allow Tracey to also ride for free that week…
Some places required you to download a particular app to access the relevant bike share systems, like the City Bike system in Oslo. Not so much of a problem if you already had an existing app for systems like Voi and Bolt.
The only problem could be that some systems speed-limited your ride in the central city areas, making it painfully slow to get anywhere…
Stockholm was another place that offered a range of bike-share schemes, be they Lime, Voi, or Bolt. We actually saw most of these systems across several cities we visited.
Annoyingly, there were at least a couple of apps we encountered that required a text code sent to your (NZ) mobile number for verification – only problem was the relevant text never came through, so we gave up on those.
I liked the fact that different cities had different local systems. For example, as well as Lime, Zurich also had purple PubliBikes – unfortunately it was just our luck that the e-bikes we found had either a dead battery or a flat tyre…
London also still has the ubiquitous Santander Cycles (aka “Boris bikes”), but we were pressed for time while there, so decided not to try those out.
Unusually, Amsterdam didn’t have Lime Bikes available there – the only option around was Donkey Republic bikes, and they were few and far between, so we didn’t bother.
Dublin was another location where the share bike offerings were limited to just three systems. I had to pick up our accommodation key from a dropbox about a kilometre away (!) so I had to hurriedly grab a Moby bike from nearby to make the journey. Unfortunately for all its claims to be electric, I was having to work very hard to pedal my one…
Not so fun in some places too (e.g. Prague, Copenhagen, Dublin) were the cobblestoned streets that are quite typical for many older European cities.
But overall, it was great to experience the various bike-share schemes on offer in most places we visited. Having mostly electric bikes also reduced the travel effort required to go further. And they certainly provided us with some flexibility to get around each city in a more efficient manner.
What’s your experience of bike-share schemes in Europe?