Europe:
Denmark:
Copenhagen:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. The Copenhagen Bycyklen operator, Gobike, has 14 days to complete its contract with the cities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg and the Danish State Railway Company, DBS, according to Danish news source, The Local. If Gobike does not fulfill its promise of 1,860 bicycles and electric charging stations by May 1, 2015 it will be forced into bankruptcy.
Gobike won the contract in 2012 to bring advanced 4th generation bike-sharing to the Copenhagen region, thereby replacing the old 2nd generation service that had existed since 1995. The Gobike bicycle has computer tablets on the handlebar to transact payments, give GPS directions, and facilitate advertising. The bike is also a pedelec -- an electric-assist bicycle. About 420 of the bikes are in operation currently in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, but the contract has not yet been satisfied as this amounts to only 23% of the full number of bikes required. Many of Gobike's problems stem from its bicycle manufacturing supplier, MIFA, which had financial problems preventing bike manufacture.
The Gobike experiment is a giant step forward for bike-sharing with all of the transit interconnection and mapping features that it introduced for bike-sharing in the 21st century. Even if it stumbles, the future of bike-sharing has begun to roll in the same direction.
Let's see what May brings to Copenhagen.
UPDATE: Gobike is given until mid-October 2015 to complete the build out of the system with the full complement of bikes as contracted: The Local dk
News in Danish: DRdk, Computerworld and DRdk
Images: The Bike-sharing Blog
Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org
Denmark:
Copenhagen:
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| Gobikes on the street in Copenhagen |
Gobike won the contract in 2012 to bring advanced 4th generation bike-sharing to the Copenhagen region, thereby replacing the old 2nd generation service that had existed since 1995. The Gobike bicycle has computer tablets on the handlebar to transact payments, give GPS directions, and facilitate advertising. The bike is also a pedelec -- an electric-assist bicycle. About 420 of the bikes are in operation currently in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, but the contract has not yet been satisfied as this amounts to only 23% of the full number of bikes required. Many of Gobike's problems stem from its bicycle manufacturing supplier, MIFA, which had financial problems preventing bike manufacture.
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| Gobike Tablet Computer |
Let's see what May brings to Copenhagen.
UPDATE: Gobike is given until mid-October 2015 to complete the build out of the system with the full complement of bikes as contracted: The Local dk
News in Danish: DRdk, Computerworld and DRdk
Images: The Bike-sharing Blog
Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org
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Here's a nice article from Copenhagenize talking about other fundamental problems with the service: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2015/02/watching-copenhagen-bike-share-die.html
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