nextbike is a German company that develops and operates public bike-sharing systems. The company was founded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2004. It operates about 30,000 bikes in Germany and several other countries around the world such as USA, UK, New Zealand, Poland, Croatia, Czechia, Austria and Switzerland, Ukraine. The headquarters as well as the production facilities with about 100 employees are based in Leipzig. The bicycles and stations are maintained by local service partners. The bike sharing schemes can be initiated by cities and franchise partners. The operating costs are financed by rental fees and the sale of advertising space on the bikes themselves. nextbike also provides mobility programmes for colleges or universities and companies.
Usage
Bicycle users are normally obtained through a subscription system, where each bike is locked to either itself or to a rental station. If using a stand-alone lock, the bike is rented via a mobile phone call or the mobile app, which provides the locking code. The bikes can be returned via app, hotline, terminal or board computer. There are cities with a flex zone allowing users to return the bike anywhere within a defined area for a small additional fee.
Projects
National projects
nextbike operates in German cities such as Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg and Dresden. The biggest implementations of the system in Germany are in Ruhr, with 3,000 bikes, and Nuremberg, with 750 bikes and 66 stations. Besides large cities, nextbike also serves about 20 smaller German cities, like Tübingen, where it has 50 bikes. ; Berlin In 2016 nextbike won the tender to operate the new bike sharing system in the city of Berlin which will be launched with 2000 bikes in spring of 2017. After the extension is finished 5000 bikes at 700 stations will be available. Berlin will then have the biggest bike sharing system in Germany. ; KVB-Rad Since 2015 nextbike together with the public transport company of Cologne offer around 1000 bikes for rent. They are available everywhere within the flex zone and complement the public transport system. ; Metropolradruhr metropolradruhr was launched in 2010 as the biggest regional bike sharing system in Germany. It links ten cities such as Dortmund, Bochum, Essen and Oberhausen. Bikes can be returned in any of these ten cities. ; ebikestationen In 2013 the region of Stuttgart started the e-bike project 'Netz-E-2-R' which includes five administrative districts. E-bikes can be rent at 15 covered stations. ; VRNnextbike In 2015 nextbike together with the transport association of the Rhine-Neckar region launched another cross-city bike sharing system with more than 400 bikes connecting Mannheim, Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen and since 2016 also Bensheim and Speyer. nextbike cooperates with local universities and colleges offering special conditions for students.
