Call a Bike

Call a Bike is operated by the German Bahn subsidiary DB Rent in various German cities bike rental system. The system exists in several versions, it does not work at any location on the same principle. Once registered customers can however easily bicycles in any city, at the prevailing rates to borrow.

Call a Bike claims to be the market leader in Germany. In the summer of 2012 had 430,000 registered users access to around 7000 wheels.

Locations

The Call-a- Bike system can be divided into two kinds availability, on the one hand in a city -wide availability and on the other in a, which are only available at the station and are due back there.

City wide the wheels are available in the following cities: Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg ( Hamburg StadtRAD ), Berlin, Karlsruhe and Kassel.

In the following towns, the wheels can be borrowed only at the ICE station and returned to Aachen, Aschaffenburg, Augsburg, Baden -Baden, Bamberg, Bremen, Bonn, Bielefeld, Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Erlangen, Freiburg im Breisgau, Flensburg, Fulda, Garmisch -Partenkirchen, Gütersloh, Gotha, Göttingen, Hamm, Halle ( Saale), Hanau, Hannover, Heidelberg, Hildesheim, Ingolstadt, Kaiserslautern, Lubeck, Magdeburg, Mainz, Mannheim, Minden, Oberhausen, Oldenburg, Passau, Rostock, Saarbrücken, goods, Warnemünde, Weimar, Wiesbaden, Wolfsburg and Würzburg.

Most bikes of Call a Bike stood 2011 in Munich. The 1,200 local wheels were used for 135,000 hours drive.

Types of Call a Bike

Call a Bike flex

Call a bike flex is currently offered in Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe. This phone -based system of bike rental was developed in 1998 by computer scientist and entrepreneur Christian Hogl and brought in 2000 in Munich for the first time on the market. Following the acquisition of the business by DB Rent it was introduced in other German cities. It is offered from mid- March to mid-December.

Characteristic of Call a Bike flex are the fileformat anywhere in the central city area bicycles with special lock, which can be rented by phone call and returned within the urban core at any intersection. In this way, Call a Bike supplemented by public transport. The use provides in particular for one-way trips or in foreign cities, where one does not have a bike or car beside her, or times where public transport does not drive. In order to enhance the complementarity function for local public transport services, there are cheaper fares for public transport users.

Since spring 2008, a flat rate is offered to use the wheels. For 48 euros a year you can see the first half hour the wheel, as with most foreign bike-sharing providers use without fee minutes. Then you have to either return the wheel and use after a blocking period of five minutes, the same wheel, find a new wheel and borrow or pay the regular per minute rate. For customers with a rail card, there is a flat rate even at discounted prices from 36 EUR.

To find a free bicycle near the own location there are different possibilities: the search to preferably powered sites or the localization on location-based services from a mobile phone. A telephone information about the next available cycle no longer exists. Improvements were made in 2008, the discoverability of the wheels on the internet by means of non-mobile access devices. After entering the location address nearest the wheels are displayed on a map. In the cities are depending on the size, a different number of bicycles available (eg 350 in Karlsruhe). The bike costs about 700 euros without electronic lock.

The system requires a one-time registration of potential users in order to collect the charges for use of can. When you call to rent, the number of the bike and, if the number was not stored and / or CLIR is activated by the given customer number.

Subsequently, the tenant receives a numerical code by which the lock can then be digested. In the telephone logout obtained a further numerical code, with its input ends the paid rental period. The lock can be opened again only after a new registration.

The rental bikes are comparatively high standard, for example, fork, roller brakes, 7-speed gearbox and rear rack. Ballad of the use of bicycles with a minute price of eight cents, which is capped at a maximum amount of 15 euros or 9 euros for railway card holders per day and bike. In addition, a weekly rate of € 45 ( Railway Card holders ) or 60 € ( other customers ) will be offered. Because the web does not accept external advertising on their bikes, " free half-hour " as in similar systems abroad only for additional charge of municipalities or payment of the annual flat tariff are possible.

From the comparison it is clear that one wants to serve with the offer both tourists and residents of the city. So it is a combination of traditional and new model bicycle rental.

Since 2008 the train has started regular rental bikes that can be borrowed from the train stations to supplement in cities such as Hamburg, Bonn, Dusseldorf and Brunswick by bike again. However, this call bikes can be returned only again in the same place, the train station, since no downtown areas or other return points were reported. Thus, they are less suitable for daily commuters as for tourists.

Call a Bike fix / StadtRAD

In June 2007, the Call- a-Bike -fix system was introduced in Stuttgart, where the customer can rent bicycles around 400 of about 633 parking spaces at 64 fixed stations and return now. The first half hour of use is free of charge. Is then billed by the minute, six to eight cents per minute depending on your plan. The city promotes the standard bikes annually with 110,000 euros and Pedelecs loud Stuttgarter Zeitung with 130,000 euros, there are, according Stuttgarter Nachrichten no promotion. In addition, even a one-time grant from the federal government for the construction of an infrastructure for Pedelecs, according to Stuttgarter Nachrichten 2.7 million euros, according to Tagblatt 1.25 million euros. The registered customers can use in other cities Call a bike flex when necessary. 2007 ended 80 percent of loans within the free half hour. 47 percent of users combine the offer with other offers of public transport. The offer has no winter break in Stuttgart. Unlike the " Call a bike flex" the user receives in Stuttgart on request information by telephone, where to find free bikes when no bike is available at the station. A private service company takes care of DB Rent maintenance, repair and distribution of wheels. The opening of additional stations depends on the actual demand. Advantage of the fixed stations is the discoverability of the wheels. The disadvantage was the possibility of trapping a desired destination station in case of insufficient redistribution, whereby the user is forced to return the rental bike at another free station. With the radio-based return system, this disadvantage is no longer available from the user's perspective.

In Hamburg there since July 2009 StadtRAD Hamburg also a Call- a-Bike -fix system with 1,650 bikes at 129 stations now, but with a striking red painted wheels. As in Stuttgart the first half hour of borrowing for the user is also free of charge in Hamburg. To register by telephone, internet or at the station itself by means of a terminal, which also gives information on the position of the other stations and the number of versions available, there wheels. The loan can by telephone, via the terminal using a credit or debit card and application for iPhone and Android smartphones. The system was expanded to include new stations and additional wheels until mid-2013.

Since mid-2013 there are also StadtRAD Lüneburg with five stations and 50 wheels with the same fare system as in Hamburg. For customers of Hamburg's public transport network can be found here .. but no benefit at per minute rate

Since late 2009, such systems have been installed at a total of 100 stops the ICE. In this case, only a single Entleihstation usually exists directly at the station.

Since the end of May 2011, the station system is also in Berlin in operation. It was tested in 2010 under the name StadtRAD Berlin with selected users. The future use of area, however, is significantly smaller than the previous one in the Flex system. The new stations are limited to the district center, an expansion is planned but. For VBB subscribers a discounted flat rate of € 9 applies in the first year, 18 euro for it.

E-Call a Bike

Tentatively also be tested Pedelecs a so-called e-Call -a-Bike. It is the model of the Darmstadt Jetstream manufacturer Riese und Müller. An electric hub motor (250 watts) in the rear where necessary assisted pedaling up to a speed of 25 km / h The power for the electric motor comes from a lithium - ion battery (24 V, 10 Ah, 240 Wh), which is charged either with AC power or through energy recovery while driving. Currently (August 2012) e-Call a Bike is offered regularly in Aachen and Stuttgart. The wheels are also presented at public events, where visitors can sometimes test drive. In Berlin several Pedelecs Deutsche Bahn are part of the project " BeMobility - Berlin electric vehicle " for the integration of electric vehicles in public transport. At the Berlin Central Station could be borrowed from May 2010 up to four Pedelecs for a day price of 15 euros. Test users have the opportunity to try out the vehicles as part of the project. The experience will be evaluated as part of the accompanying social scientific research.

"Konrad " in Kassel

Since March 29, 2012 There are in Kassel a rental system under the name "Konrad ", with 500 bikes spread over 50 stations in the city. Konrad is for CallBike or StadtRAD customers without further notification available, it is the tariff as in Frankfurt am Main. The background to this is that DB Rent operates the system, as well CallBike and StadtRAD. However, the wheels are from the Swiss company simpleton. Federal government and the city have supported the system with 1.67 million euros. Because of the many differences in height in Kassel use numerous Konrad users the system downhill especially. Two employees are in use eight hours a day to redistribute the wheels to fill among other things, the empty stations on the mountain park William height again. In the first year, the deficit amounted to 160,000 euros.

159501
de