Rekola is a bicycle sharing system in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It started in Prague in 2013 as a small project of Vít Ježek.[1] As of 2020, it is operating in six Czech cities, Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and in the Finnish city of Vaasa. The company is operating more than 2,000 bikes, most of which are located in Prague. The daily ridership in 2018 was 4,700 people.[2][non-primary source needed] The pink bikes of Rekola do not have any docks, which makes the system five times cheaper than traditional dock system.[3] The bikes can be unlocked through an official app.[4] The user unlocks the bikes manually through the code which is given from the app.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic and after declaration of state of emergency in March 2020, the company offered unlimited number of free 30 minute rides to anybody in all cities where it operates in the Czech Republic. This offer was enabled by sponsorship from Czech companies Rohlik.cz and Prusa Research. The goal was to enable an access to transport with lower risk of virus transmission than public transport.[5]
Locations
Saddles of Rekola bikes, 2018
Czech Republic
As of 2023, Rekola operates bike sharing systems in 5 Czech cities. It operated in 11 cities in the Czech Republic in 2019. The list also shows the approximate number of bikes in each city.
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