One of the Stockholm City Bikes racks. Photo by ITDP-Europe.

By Marcus Cederstrom in Stockholm—

Stockholm is a beautiful city and one that can easily be toured on foot. If you’re hoping to get around a little faster though, cycling around town will allow you more freedom. Bike lanes are common and well respected by motorists and pedestrians alike.

It’s no surprise then that Stockholm City Bikes, a bike sharing program run as a joint venture between the city of Stockholm and Clear Channel, has emerged as a popular service in Stockholm. Best of all, once you join the program, your rentals are free!

When to rent

The program offers 1,000 bikes at 80 unmanned bike stations throughout the city, many of them located in the middle of town. Bikes are available every day of the week, from 6 AM to 6 PM. Of course, touring Stockholm on a bike in the middle of the winter can be a dangerous endeavor. With this in mind, Stockholm City Bikes are only rentable from April 1st to October 31st.

The three-day card and the season pass

When renting a bike from the Stockholm City Bikes program, you have two different options. The first is the three-day rental card, which costs 125 SEK. It is valid for three days from the time you first use the card, not from the time you buy the card.

The other option is the season pass. This is valid throughout the entire season, from April through October and can be purchased at sales locations for 250 SEK, or online for 200 SEK. If you intend on biking around Stockholm for more than three days, plan ahead and buy the card online and save 50 SEK.

The most convenient sales locations include any SL Center (the public transportation company in Stockholm), Central Station, Slussen, or the Stockholm Tourist Centre. You can also buy the card online at Stockholm City Bike’s website, where, as we mentioned, you can get the season card for 200 SEK instead of 250. Unfortunately, cards cannot be purchased at the bike racks.

Getting your bike

Once you’ve purchased your card, all you have to do is find a bike stand from which to rent. At every rack, you’ll find an automatic card reader with very clear instructions. Just hold your card up against the reader, wait for it to register, and then grab your bike. You only have 30 seconds from the time your card is registered, but if you’re too slow, don’t worry, just repeat the process—albeit a little quicker this time!

Get it back on time

Rentals last three hours, at which point you are expected to return the bike to any of the city’s numerous bike stands. If three hours isn’t enough for you, you can just head to a nearby stand and re-rent the bike. The three-hour rule is strictly enforced, mostly because it is difficult to argue with the computer and the time stamp it records.

If you are late, you receive what Stockholm City Bikes refers to as a “penalty point.” Three penalty points and your card will be blocked. If you keep your bike for more than five hours, your card is automatically blocked regardless of the number of penalty points you might have already accumulated.

Stockholm City Bikes has its limitations, not being able to buy a rental card at the bike stand, for example. Regardless, the service covers almost all of Stockholm and allows tourists (and locals for that matter) a great way of getting around.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Cheapos do love a nice ride. That’s why we first brought you news of Vienna’s awesome Citybike program two years ago. At the time, our correspondent Ellen Farkas said, “When it comes to bicycles, the Viennese fully support two-wheeled transport without any fuss. They take their bikes as far as they can, come rain or shine. The sight of a well-dressed exec—all in black—pedalling his way to work isn’t a novelty. It’s this love of bikes that Citybike Wien exploits.”

The right cycle

So, what’s new about the program? No, they haven’t exactly reinvented the wheel, but they’ve kept up those same low prices, especially for the one-time booking fee. If you reserve ahead of time, you’ll pay €1, and it gets returned to you when you pick up your bike.  A €2 borrowing fee still applies.

With more than 54 rental stations throughout the city (there were only 50 at our earlier press time), hitching a ride is easy. The first hour of pedalling is free, 2 hours will run you €1, 3 hours = €3, and anything after 4 hours is charged at a rate of €4 each.

Get movin’!

For more info, you can visit the Citybike Wien program (only in German), or check out the Vienna Tourism Board’s section on bike rental. Happy cycling.

***Above photo of Citybikes courtesy of sustainablerotterdam

Popularity: 10% [?]

It’s been over a year since this Cheapo has been in Paris, and since I arrived on Thursday with my fellow Cheapo (and wife), Meredith, I’ve been surprised by two very noticeable changes: 1. Smokeless cafes and restaurants 2. Nifty bike rentals appearing on many, many street corners.

I’ll save commentary about smokeless cafes for a later post. Coming from a relatively recently smoke-free New York City, it’s more or less a similar effect, although seeing the bustling cafes of Saint-Germain des Pres without piles of Gauloises Blondes stacked on tables seems a little, well, weird. That said, customers are allowed - perhaps even encouraged - to smoke at outdoor tables, so maybe the change isn’t really that big of a deal.

As for Paris’ “Velib” bike rental program, though, there is no question it’s a city-wide success. Initially I thought the program would be more of a tourist draw and envisioned mobs of backpackers with Let’s Go guides doing wheelies down the Champs-Elysees, but such is not the case (especially because the bikes weigh about 50 pounds, making wheelies quite a feat to perform.) We’ve seen Parisians riding solo, groups of teenagers, businessmen heading to work, packs of friends coasting at low speeds, as well as many out of towners enjoying a ride. The late night post-bar bike scene has been particularly entertaining to observe, although I think some thought should be given to providing discounted helmets as well.

The Velib program is financed by the French advertising company JC Decaux and is managed by little ATM-ish kiosks next to each bike rental station, where passes can be purchased for a day, a week, a month or a year. Bikes can be found in clusters of 20 - 40 on many corners across Paris - they’re everywhere, especially in central Paris. The bikes are locked to a small pedastal that unlocks once a customer swipes a bike card and off they go! Bikes can be returned to the same rental stations or any of the others throughout the city, and the first 30 minutes are free.

As for the bikes themselves, they look like a Parisian version of Pee-Wee Herman’s bike: gray, somewhat bulky, super fat “I could ride over a thousand nails and not care” tires, basket and a little bell. In other words: perfect.

Now if only they could make a tandem rental with a luggage trolley to get us to the airport tomorrow morning….

Popularity: 11% [?]