Reinventing the wheel

Bratislava’s current bike sharing scheme is something of a curate’s egg: good in parts.

(Source: Sme)

When Bratislava first tried a public bike sharing scheme back in autumn 2001, it did not end well.

Eight white bikes were put out on 21 September 2001. Just a week later all the bikes were missing or had been destroyed. "I give up," The Slovak Spectator quoted White Bike organiser Miroslav Koziel as saying at the time.

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Bratislava Old Town’s spokesperson, Milan Vajda, commented: “This is a lesson about the minds of the people in this city ... It seems that we are not ready for this kind of project.”

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It was to be another 17 years before we were.

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