OREANDA-NEWS.   Saint Petersburg started Velobike, a rent-a-bike chain. The project was initiated by Saint Petersburg Transportation Committee and Bank of Moscow, which is actively involved in city bike projects. In 2013, Bank of Moscow was the first to implement and launch a public rent-a-bike chain.

As of today, there are 29 kiosks with 500 bikes. The bikes are supplied by Homeport, a Czech company that has implemented similar projects in the Czech Republic, France, Great Britain and other countries.

A kiosk is an electronic station with solar power supply. Each is equipped with 8 through 16 bike ports. The service is now available 24 hours a day. You may rent a bike in one kiosk and deliver it to any other Velobike kiosk. The service was successfully tested in Moscow last year. As of season-end 2013, the system registered 46000 people with over 70000 rides.

Mikhail Kuzovlev, President-Chair of Bank of Moscow: "We've long been involved in city bike projects. Setting up a rent-a-bike service in Saint Petersburg is a logical step for us, as Bank of Moscow is a modern and forward looking bank for a modern city."