OREANDA-NEWS.  February 14, 2012. The public rent-a-bike service BalticBike has launched an initiative to find new locations for its bike stands in the Latvian capital of Riga, and invites landowners to propose their own location for BalticBike. This will improve the popular self-service bike rental, as new and better stand locations will make it more convenient for residents and tourists alike to use this green and environmentally-friendly form of transport.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “BalticBike has become an integral part of Riga. Originally popular for tourists, the bicycles are increasingly used by local residents as a green form of transportation. In 2011, the overall rentals have more than tripled to 15 000, compared to a year earlier. Thus landowners, who can offer as little as 4 to 10 square meters of land for the bike stand, attract the attention of environmentally-conscious tourists and local residents, who may become new customers for their business – cafй, bar, restaurant, shop or hotel.”

Landowners willing to propose their land for BalticBike are invited to do so until March 14, 2012. Details of this initiative are available at www.BalticBike.com.

BalticBike bicycles are available at 19 stands – 16 in Riga, and 3 in Jurmala. In 2011, the proportion of local residents who rent BalticBikes has increased to 70%. It represents a change in the trend, as in 2010 the BalticBike bicycles were equally popular among both residents and guests of Riga and Jurmala. This indicates that due to the competitive price of EUR 1 (Ls 0.70) per hour, BalticBike bicycles are becoming a very popular form of transportation among residents of Riga and Jurmala. BalticBike rental service is owned and operated by airBaltic.

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.