How SmartBikes Work
Moving around the city has never been so quick and easy: the user can find SmartBikes stations at all central and convenient locations throughout the city. The service is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. All you have to do is take a bike and ride it.
Taking a bike
All you have to do is find a SmartBike station and identify yourself by holding your user card in front of the card reader on the station. Since radio frequency is used to identify your card, you do not even have to take it out of your wallet for the station to register it.
Follow the instructions on the screen; the station will appoint a bike to you. Now you can go ahead and take your bike for a trip through the city. All that in under 10 seconds – just a flash.
Returning the bike
After you have finished your bike ride, you can bring the bike back to any of the SmartBike stations in the city. Just lift your bike into any of the free slots and the station will register that you have returned it. The light in the station will change from green to red to let you know that you are free to go.
How to get a user card
SmartBike is a very versatile service and offers the flexibility that is required to fit the needs of any city and its inhabitants. We value user friendliness and understand that simplicity plays an important part when it comes to convenience. Easy registration is offered through the internet so that the user can find more information about SmartBike and fill out the registration form whenever and wherever he/she prefers.
The user card is then sent together with a welcome package directly to the address of the user where it will arrive within a matter of days.
For short term users such as sporadic users or tourists, other methods of acquiring a user card can be considered. This will always be done in coordination with the city in question and keeping into consideration the local circumstances. Among the possibilities, one can think of making user cards available through tourist information offices, or in co-operation with frequently located kiosks or shops throughout the city.
How much does SmartBike cost?
As SmartBike offers a public transport service that is readily available for any type of user, we believe it is our duty to make the bike as accessible as possible in order to stimulate its use.
Again, this is done in close cooperation with the municipality. In Scandinavia, our existing systems are based on a season registration fee. The user pays a set fee (under 10 Euro) and is then free to use the system during the entire season. In Sweden, a bike helmet is included in the price. Cities can also opt for a ‘pay-per-ride’ fee, where the user is charged for the time he/she uses the bike. In order to stimulate the use of the bike –and research has shown that the average duration of the bike use is more or less 20 minutes- the first half hour is often free of charge.
Availability – Opening hours
By definition, SmartBike as a public transport has to be accessible to a large amount of people, which is why the time per loan is limited. Depending on the circumstances, the time limit can vary. In Scandinavia the maximum loan time is 3 hours whilst in other cities this can be adapted to user demand and frequency. Although there is a time limit per use, this does not necessarily mean a restriction: users are welcome to borrow a new bike directly after they return their first bike.
All cities have their own identity and their own culture. In some cities most people live in the city centre, whereas in other cities you will find that all the offices and business areas are concentrated in the core of the city. Some cities are heavily influenced by meteorological elements; rain and snow as well as sun, wind and humidity have strong effects on city life. These are but a few of the elements that shape a city’s character.
Opening hours of SmartBike is closely linked to city life and is therefore different per city. In determining the opening hours, extra attention is paid to guarantee the safety of the user.
User responsibility
To ensure that the bikes are treated with care, the users are responsible for the bike from the moment it is removed from a SmartBike station, until it is returned to another station correctly.
Because of the unique ability to identify the user, Clear Channel will be able to locate and contact the user in case of late or no return of the bike.