Nextbike, a Germany-based international bicycle rental company, is to launch its service in Kyiv in mid-August.
The company announced the decision on Aug. 1, publishing on its website a map of 27 locations in Ukraine’s capital city where people will be able to rent a bike.
Most of the rental stations will be located downtown, in the Podil and Obolon districts, and also in the Troeschyna and Rusanivka districts on the city’s left bank. According to the website map, the service will be available near a number of the city’s busiest subway stations, such as Lukyanivka, Poznyaky, Osokorky, Kharkivska, Minska, Pochayna, Heroiv Dnipra, and Livoberezhna.
The description says the service requires users to have a Nextbike smartphone application connected to a bank account.
With the application, users scan a QR code at a rental station, and one of the bicycles is automatically unlocked for use. The bike can be brought back to any Nextbike location, parked, and then locked up again. Users can also park and lock the bikes at other locations, though parking time outside of a rental station will have to be paid for.
“This is an important step for the city in making passenger travel comfortable,” the service said on its website on Aug. 1.
“A bicycle in a city means mobility, convenience, and ecological friendliness.”
A single ride will cost Hr 30 ($1.10) for every 30 minutes. The service also offers a monthly rental rate of Hr 199 ($7.30), or a season pass lasting until November 30 and costing Hr 599 ($22.10).
For the basic, single ride service, users will be able to rent a bike for up to six hours per day.
Users have to make sure they follow the rules of use of the service: for any violation of the service’s parking rules, riders are fined Hr 100 ($3.70), while failing to return a rented cycle to a Nextbike station within 24 hours is considered theft.
The service is set to be rolled out in test mode on Aug. 14-15.
This is not the first time Nextbike has attempted to launch its service in Kyiv. In July 2016, the company announced it would start operating in Ukraine’s capital city with somewhat higher rental prices (Hr 50 for a 30-minute ride), but there was no further progress at that time.
Nextbike already runs its rental services in Lviv, and in over 150 other cities in 25 countries around the world.
