Yellow bikes are popular in Bratislava (source: Sme)
The first month of bike-sharing in Bratislava was characterised not only by high interest in bicycles but also by many cases of vandalism. Weekends are especially critical when servicemen collect tens of damaged bicycles, Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal summed up the first month of operation of the yellow bicycles in Bratislava. The Slovak capital is running the bike-sharing scheme in cooperation with the refinery Slovnaft, under the Slovnaft BAjk brand.
“We have registered two types of vandalism,” said Anton Molnár, spokesperson for the refinery Slovnaft, as cited by the TASR newswire. “These are rough handling of the bike during the ride or damage to the bike at the bike sharing station without even borrowing the bike.”
Smaller repairs are done in a workshop in Bratislava while the bigger ones are done by the producer. People most often damage the seats, brakes, locks, pedals, lights, baskets, tires and the communication panel. The City has also registered some cases of stolen bicycles, the SITA newswire reported.
The City is now working on strengthening the front forks, adjusting the locks and providing new seats for taller people.
For the time being there are about 200 yellow bicycles in the streets of Bratislava, which people can borrow for €1. Bike-sharing is running in four of Bratislava’s boroughs: Old Town, Nové Mesto, Ružinov and Petržalka. There are 73 bike sharing stations, where people can borrow bicycles and this number should increase to 90 in the spring.
Almost 30,000 users registered during the first month of the bike-sharing scheme in Bratislava. People use the bicycles most often in the morning between 7:00 and 9:00 and in the afternoon between 17:00 and 22:00. The most often used station is the one at SNP Square, where almost 800 bikes are being borrowed per week. This is followed by the station at Šafárikovo Square, Pribinova Street and Viedenská Street below the SNP Bridge.
People made a record number of rides on the bike on September 13 – as many as 55. Users made about 70,000 rides on the yellow bikes during the first month of the bike-sharing operation.
During the winter months, the operation will be adapted to the weather. In the case of bad weather the bicycles will be temporarily withdrawn from the streets. In the spring, the bike-sharing scheme will be re-launched with as many as 750 bicycles.
