Bicycle sharing in Moscow: how it works and doesn’t work

On June 1, bicycle rental points opened in Moscow. The Moscow authorities, who came up with the Velobike project , want to create “an alternative to the car and public transport, to provide city residents and tourists with affordable transport for short trips.”

So far, out of 114 bicycle stations that are planned to be launched before the end of the cycling season (50 of them should already be operational in July), only 30 are operating, and only 300 bicycles are offered for rental. It is not surprising that with massive information support, excellent weather and affordable prices, there were not enough bicycles for everyone. On Sunday, a PublicPost correspondent searched for a bicycle for three hours, tested it for two hours, encountered the first glitches of the rental system and realized that bicycles in Moscow are not for motorists, but for pedestrians.

How to take a bike. Theory

To use the rental, you must register on the website velobike.ru.

1. You need to enter your first name, last name, mobile phone number (I was able to register even two profiles for one number) and e-mail.

2. Then select the number of bicycles (one or two if there are two of you).

Photo: velobike.ru

3. Select a tariff. There are four tariffs - day, week, month and season. Subscription fee for rental: day - 100 rubles, week - 250 rubles, month - 450 rubles, season (until October 31) - 950 rubles. It is paid by electronic payment when registering on the site. When choosing a tariff, you need to pay attention to the start date of its validity. For example, if you decided on Monday that you will ride a bike one day on Sunday, before paying the tariff you need to select Sunday in the calendar (the system automatically sets the payment date), otherwise the money will be debited and you will not use the rental. The start date of the tariff must be specified in all plans except seasonal.

4. In addition to the subscription fee, a minimum payment of 50 rubles must be made to the account. This money will be debited if you ride a bike for more than half an hour. The number of half-hour free sessions is unlimited. For example, after riding for free for 25 minutes, you can return your bike at the station and immediately pick it up again.

Photo: velobike.ru

5. Even before paying by credit card, you receive an SMS with the number of the so-called “online card” (aka contract number) and PIN code. These two numbers will need to be entered at the bike station in order to pick up a bike.

The subscription fee is the right to use free half-hour bicycle rides during the validity period of the tariff, and immediately after payment the money is debited. After registration, only the money deposited in excess of the selected tariff remains on the balance; if the balance is less than 50 rubles, the bike station will not issue a bicycle.

The first half hour is free, for the first hour of skiing you will be charged 30 rubles, for two - 90 rubles, for three hours - 300 rubles, a trip of three to four hours will cost 900 rubles, a trip of more than six hours costs 1,500 rubles. After the first day, a fine of 3,000 rubles is added to the amount of debt, and then 1,500 rubles per day. It is assumed that if the bike is lost, the one who took it will pay the rental company 15,000 rubles. However, the mechanism for blocking money in the tenant’s account is not specified in the agreement, and how the fine will be collected is not entirely clear.

How does this work. Practice

On the first weekend of summer in Moscow, people on massive red bicycles with advertisements for the Bank of Moscow (project sponsors) were conspicuous - most of them were riding along sidewalks and pedestrian areas. They aroused curiosity rather than irritation among pedestrians. Many of the walkers studied the information stands at the bike stations and asked cyclists approaching the stands how to rent a bike.

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

There were no free, working bicycles at the stations - they were completely empty or with single faulty bicycles that no one took. There were bicycles at other points, but in some places the bicycle station itself did not want to issue bicycles due to technical glitches. To find a free and at the same time serviceable bicycle, I had to go through eight bicycle stations - on Pushkinskaya Square, on Tverskaya Street, Bolshaya Dmitrovka, Petrovka and Kuznetsky Most. The number of bikes at the station can be tracked on an online map , but the bikes disappeared as I walked from one to the other.

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

I came across my first bicycle on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. It was rented out by Anna, a tourist from Omsk. “It’s better not to take this one, its chain is slack. The pedals are spinning,” she said. The girl came to Moscow for a few days and decided to see the city on a bicycle. She has her own mountain home. When we met, Anna had already been riding for several hours and had even changed several bikes.

The number of bicycles in parking lots can be tracked using an online map. The picture was taken at night

Photo: velobike.ru

"How do you like the bikes?" - I asked. “They don’t go very fast. Make sure there are speeds,” she pointed to a small toggle switch on the steering wheel. “On single-speed ones it’s generally inconvenient to go downhill. The fork is without a shock absorber. So it’s a rough ride. And it’s also heavy. But in general, the idea “It’s great. I saw the city normally in a couple of hours. I travel at home all the time, so I decided to try it.”

Anna from Omsk was sightseeing on a bicycle

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

At the next bike station at the beginning of Petrovka there was one bicycle. I entered the card number and PIN code, but the machine wrote that there was no bicycle and refused to give it out. At this time, Alexander arrived at the bike station, accompanied by fellow cyclists. Alexander immediately handed over the bike (the one with the faulty chain that Anna was riding on) and decided to take the one that I couldn’t take. Now the machine refused to give out both bicycles and wrote to Alexander that he had already taken as many bicycles as he could. “I rode a faulty bicycle for two minutes, and he writes that I have the bike and won’t give it back,” he called the support service.

Alexander calls support

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

I headed up to Strastnoy Boulevard, where, judging by the online map, several bicycles were parked at the bike station. When I got there, there was only one bike on her - the one the guy was renting out. “I urgently need to give it back before the money is written off, I’ve already been riding for 28 minutes,” he told me. He, too, had already attended several free 30-minute sessions and was now getting ready to go home.

I took this bike. At the station we got into a conversation with Ruslan, who also gave his bike to another applicant: “I’m an employee of the bike sharing program, and I have work further, but if you want, I’ll walk there.” Ruslan warned that when returning it, it is important to correctly insert the bicycle pin into the socket on the rack: “At night, some sockets at the stations were bent, and people are unable to insert the pin straight, and they continue to be charged money. Therefore, you need to push it straight. In general, repairmen go and They’re fixing it, but they’re not making much progress yet.” Immediately Ruslan tightens my loose saddle.

Ruslan - employee of the bike sharing program

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

I decided to take a ride along Strastnoy Boulevard to Trubnaya Square. Cyclists, of whom there were many on the boulevards over the weekend, rode on the sidewalks. No one was driving along the roadway - the right side was clogged with parked cars, and cars were constantly rushing along the left lane, clearly violating the speed limit.

By the end of the first half hour, I return the bike on Tsvetnoy Boulevard and immediately pick it up again. The system gives me my own bicycle without any problems, and the tariff plan itself encourages movement within the boulevard ring in “small dashes” - travel from the station to the station. While I’m handing over and taking the bike, a guy runs up to me: “Are you handing over?” “Not yet,” I answer. He is disappointed: “I’ll wait here, maybe someone will come - there’s no point in walking from station to station.”

After half an hour you can return the bike and take it back for free

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

Having made a short circle through the parks to Suvorovskaya Square, I return to Tsvetnoy Boulevard. At a traffic light in front of a (completely empty) bike station, a guy with a smartphone in his hands asks if I’m going to return my bike. I shake my head negatively. “I registered, but haven’t had a chance to ride yet. But it’s okay, there’s another one parked in the middle of the boulevard,” he replies and, as soon as the light turns green, he runs off towards the bike station in the middle of the boulevard.

The next route is Strastnoy Boulevard, Petrovka, Uspensky Lane, Malaya Dmitrovka. From time to time, because of the dug up streets and narrow sidewalks, I had to dismount and walk along with the pedestrians. I still managed to drive part of the way along the roadway, quite nervously. It was possible to move between parked cars (I really didn’t want someone to suddenly get out of the car) and the far left row (the bike is slow - it’s impossible to comply with the speed limit). I was 3 minutes late to the parking lot. 30 rubles were withdrawn from the account. Now, instead of 50 rubles, I only have 20 rubles on my balance, and the bike station doesn’t want to give out a bike. I top up my balance, take a bike again (if you have 60 rubles in your account, then you can already rent two bikes, but the point doesn’t give out more) and move along the underground passage to Tverskoy Boulevard. The bike is heavy, but there is an underground passage with a ramp. To the end of Nikitsky Boulevard we again had to drive along the pedestrian zone.

At the underground passage under New Arbat I again had to dismount and walk like this until Gogolevsky Boulevard. At the beginning of the boulevard there is also a bike station - on the site near the monument, to which a staircase leads from the boulevard (again, I carry the bike on myself). Having passed the boulevard twice, I leave the bike and only now notice that some of the sockets are bent, and in two there are actually metal pins - sawed off from bicycles, however, the station takes these pins for bicycles and even offers to ride them.

The pin was cut down. The bicycle was stolen. But the station "thinks" the bike is parked

Photo: Stanislav Reshetnev/PublicPost

Monday

On Monday I decided to try cycling to my morning sports training. From Nikitsky Boulevard, through Bolshaya Nikitskaya, Mokhovaya and Bolshaya Lubyanka, I got to Sretensky Boulevard in 26 minutes, getting lost in the alleys. At the first station at 7 am there were four bicycles, the streets were empty: traffic was free, and there was almost no one on the side of the road, so I was riding in the far right lane. The only problem was crossing Tverskaya Street - the underground passage on one side of the street is not equipped with a ramp. However, at 7 am in an empty metro, a trip to the same distance would hardly take longer than 10 minutes.

In its current form, bike sharing is not yet convenient enough to become an alternative to a car or public transport - due to dug-up streets, cars parked on the side of the road (where there could be bike paths), and an insufficient number of bike stations and bicycles. City bike sharing is still entertainment and an alternative to walking on a weekend.