Stockholm City Bikes
Encyclopedia
Stockholm City Bikes is the name of a public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

 project of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 in Sweden and the outdoor advertising unit of Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

.

It is a community bicycle program
Community bicycle program
A bicycle sharing system is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals who do not own them. Bicycle sharing systems can be divided into two general categories: "Community Bike programs" organized mostly by local community groups or non-profit organizations; and...

 that allows renting a bicycle for a maximum period of 3 hours, between 06:00 and 22:00 (last rental at 22:00).

Rental system

The rental system requires a membership and a rental card. These are obtained by buying a season card (for 300 Swedish kronor SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

) or 3-day card (for 165 Swedish kronor SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

) (Prices state August 2011). Rental cards can be bought at "SL centres" (SL
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik AB, , commonly referred to as SL, is the organisation running all of the land based public transport systems in Stockholm County....

 is Stockholm's public transportation company) and require registration with personal identification containing the Swedish national identification number
National identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other...

 called personnummer
Personal identity number (Sweden)
The personal identity number is the Swedish national identification number. When it was introduced in 1947 it was probably the first of its kind covering the total resident population of a country...

. 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 1 April and 31 October, 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 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.

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
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

. The advertising is displayed on the bikes and on outdoor bilboards set up in connection with the bike stalls.

Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

 runs similar projects in Barcelona
Bicing
Bicing is the name of a 'community bicycle program' in Barcelona inaugurated on March 22, 2007, similar to the Vélô service in Toulouse, Vélo'v in Lyon and Vélib' in Paris, and apparently uses the same system and bicycles as Stockholm City Bikes...

, Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

, Washington DC, and Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 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.

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.

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), Vienna, Zaragoza, Prague, Blackpool, La Rochelle and Ljubljana (BicikeLj).

See also

  • Clear Channel Communications
    Clear Channel Communications
    Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

  • Stockholm Municipality
    Stockholm Municipality
    Stockholm Municipality or the City of Stockholm is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is the largest of the 290 municipalities of the country in terms of population, but one of the smaller in terms of area, making it the most densely populated...

  • Public-private partnership
    Public-private partnership
    Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

  • Community bicycle program
    Community bicycle program
    A bicycle sharing system is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals who do not own them. Bicycle sharing systems can be divided into two general categories: "Community Bike programs" organized mostly by local community groups or non-profit organizations; and...

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