User:Bravemidwesterner/sandbox

Buy, Rent
Visitors to another city have the choice to buy a bicycle, rent one, join a bikeshare pool, or take their bike with them.

Types of bikes
Bikes for urban areas have somewhat different requirements than those for longer distances or harsher terrain. In general, racing bikes are only a second best option as they're uncomfortable to ride over even slightly non-smooth surfaces which many shortcuts in urban areas can be.

On one hand there is seldom a need for high speeds, as traffic, traffic lights and similar require regularly slowing down. On the other hand, it is a big advantage to be able to accelerate at least as fast as the cars, if driving with them in the street. Three-gear bikes are often adequate for this. Driving upright helps keeping an eye on surrounding traffic.

Bike sharing programs (for minutes from a dock)
Hundreds of cities around the world have bike sharing programs for short-term bike rental. Generally speaking such programs consist of hundreds of automated bike-rental stations where you can automatically rent bikes with your phone, an app or a special pre-paid card charged to your credit card, your phone bill, your bank account or the aforementioned pre-paid card.

Both are based on a rate per time which is charged by the minute (Call a Bike) or the half hour (Nextbike). In some systems the maximum time you can rent a bike is 24 hours (with rates capped at roughly ten to fifteen Euros a day) but you can return a bike any time you want and get a new one (you have to allow for a short waiting period of about 5 minutes).

Some cities also pay for their bike-rental operator to offer the first x minutes for free. As an example, some systems charge 8 cents per minute (Call a Bike, no discounts) or one Euro per half hour (Nextbike, no discounts), while Nextbike for example offers a discount of roughly fifty percent (with a free first half hour) for a price of three Euros per month valid for all cities and all bicycles operating on the Nextbike system. Call a Bike gives a 25% discount for all BahnCard 25 owners (also good for 25% reduced fares with Deutsche Bahn). Numerous city owned or city run systems give discounts for residents, special offers for tourists (sometimes in combination with public transport discounts) or discounts for owners of week or month tickets for public transport.

Where short time rent is free or very cheap for registered users the system is very flexible: grab a bike, return it to a station near your destination, do your business, grab another bike and move on. Or take a walk and grab a bike just when you feel like.

In the United States (notably) Washington and New York City the systems are more expensive, as more of the revenue is generated through user fees whereas Nextbike earns most of its money through advertising on the bikes and stations as well as local contributions.