Helsinki plans to launch bicycle hire service next summer

Modern rental bikes are expected to find users from among commuters and tourists in downtown Helsinki

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The City of Helsinki plans to introduce a new city-bike system next summer. The system would be similar to that used in Stockholm, where the Swedish capital has been running the project in cooperation with the outdoor advertising specialists Clear Channel Communications.
      At present, Clear Channel and the outdoor advertising corporation JCDecaux, which provided all city-bikes for example in Paris, are competing over the contract on Helsinki’s new city bike system.
     
The aim is to provide a total of 500 bikes to be placed in pickup/drop-off stations with around 40 racks located in various parts of the capital.
      ”We plan to put the bikes in action next summer, but we cannot promise any exact date yet”, says project manager Anna-Maija From of Helsinki City Transport (HKL).
      ”A tentative request for quotations will be made next week. Decisions are expected to be made in December”, From adds.
      In the past decade, Helsinki residents have had sturdy city-owned bicycles at their disposal that hardly anyone liked very much - they were not good to ride, and the CityBike system was frequently targeted by vandals and thieves.
      The new city bikes are to be different. According to the plan, the new bikes will be modern bicycles with gears, with which it will be easy and safe to move around.
      To reduce vandalism, people will have to use a travel card, a credit card, or a mobile phone in order to free a bike from the stand.
      In this way it will be known who is using a given bike at any given moment. The computers at stands will monitor the pickups and drop-offs of the bikes.
     
What will all this two-wheeled fun cost?
      The City of Helsinki has not made any decisions on the tariffs as yet. The aim is to keep the rates so low that the price will not be an obstacle to the use of city-bikes.
      There will also be a time limit of up to three hours for the use of bikes, and the pickup/drop-off stations will be open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm.
     
As the fees alone will not be sufficient to run the system, the new stock of city-owned bicycles is to be funded by means of advertisements that are to be placed on bicycles and bike stands.
      The new city bikes are a part of the Finnish capital’s plan to increase cycling in the city.
      Commuters are one target-group, for instance picking up a bike from a stand at a Metro station and continuing across town to their final destination on two wheels.
      Another likely group of users could be tourists - Finnish and foreign - visiting the capital. This would necessitate instructions being in several languages: in Stockholm, tourists without a smattering of Swedish at their disposal are somewhat lost.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki abandons free-to-use CityBikes (12.4.2010)
  Vandals smash up Helsinki´s CityBikes (23.5.2008)

See also:
  Helsinki CityBike season to commence next week (6.5.2008)

Links:
  Helsinki Region Transport: Walking and Cycling

Helsingin Sanomat