Copenhagen is getting ready to GOBIKE

GOBIKE - Copenhagen's Bycyklen Replacement

Just after terminating its 17-year old coin-operated Bycyklen bike-share system, Copenhagen City Hall has changed its mind and will fund a new system for 2013 according to The Copenhagen Post. The new Bycyklen is GOBIKE! 

GOBIKE is the newest version of the Urbikes system, from a company based in Barcelona, Spain. There are a few innovations scheduled for the Copenhagen system. The most intriguing is the utilization of some of the research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology SENSEable City Laboratory programs: CopenCycle and The Copenhagen Wheel. GOBIKE riders will have real time information at their figure tips with a touch screen computer between the handle bars as they negotiate the one of the world's leading cycle-friendly cities.

The on-board computer will plan your route with a map display. It can give real-time transport schedule information with ticketing integration. It can furnish information on activities in areas through which you are cycling. Real-time bike and docking station availability is displayed as well.

To make it easy to find and take a bike, a smart phone app will locate the nearest bike and allow you to reserve it. Whether or not the app will reserve an empty slot to return the bike is yet to be seen! This system will really be the beginning of 4th generation bike-sharing.

The city will install 2,000 GOBIKES at bike-share stations near public transport hubs to achieve seamless transfers from train, tram, and bus. The bikes have a shaft drive instead of a chain system and puncture-proof solid tires to reduce maintenance needs. The system is scheduled to stay open all year round.

Keep reading The Bike-sharing Blog for GOBIKE's inauguration as it happens. 

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images: GOBIKE

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org