Helsinki CityBike season to commence next week

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One of the sure signs of the approaching summer, namely the green Helsinki City Transport (HKL) CityBikes, will appear in the streets of the Finnish capital next week.
      The robust bicycles are at anyone’s disposal, or anyone who has two euros to spare for the deposit needed for freeing the bikes from their stands.
      “I have witnessed groups of a dozen Japanese tourists using the CityBikes to cycle in a row around the city. It looks good”, says Jan Engblom, the person in charge of the bikes at HKL.
      The HKL CityBikes have been a considerable hit ever since they were first introduced in 2000. “This is a good system. I strongly recommend it to other cities as well”, Engblom says.
     
Currently there are 150 CityBikes available in Helsinki, which, according to Engblom, is not enough. “If the permissible area of usage was made slightly larger, something like 800 to a thousand bikes would be a suitable number.”
      When needed, one can borrow a bicycle helmet from the Jugendsali at Pohjoisesplanadi 19.
      Something new is also in the offing, Engblom promises.
      HKL is currently making arrangements for the introduction of new CityBikes in the spring of 2010.
     
After the renewal, the number of available bicycles will be greater and their permitted area of use larger.
      And best of all, the new bikes will be better than the ones currently in use.
      Examples for the new CityBikes have been observed in Paris, Lyon, and Stockholm, where the next generation of urban bicycles are already in use.
      “The system would follow the practice commonly used elsewhere: the CityBikes could be freed from the stand by using a travel card or a credit card”, Engblom explains.
      The idea of using the cards is to reduce vandalism and to bring down the number of abandoned or stolen bicycles.


Links:
  City of Helsinki: Citybikes

Helsingin Sanomat