{"id":150327,"date":"2017-05-25T07:27:28","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T07:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=150327"},"modified":"2017-05-25T07:27:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T07:27:59","slug":"rekola-czech-bike-sharing-project-taking-world-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/05\/25\/rekola-czech-bike-sharing-project-taking-world-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Rekola – Czech Bike Sharing Project Is Taking the World by Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the year of 2013, when a group of urban cycling enthusiasts put their heads together and conceived an idea that would become the biggest successful bike sharing project in the Czech Republic, used both by locals and tourists. Enter Rekola.<\/strong>
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It all started with a group of Prague\u2019s locals who were friends with V\u00edtek Je\u017eek, the current Rekola CEO. They painted seven bikes pink and put them out in the streets in one Prague\u2019s quarter, just like that. Later they recognized that adding bike locks would be much more reasonable solution and fitted the bikes with safety measures. To borrow the bike, one got a card with all seven security codes for the lock combinations. Je\u017eek, having background in a web design, has a certain IT knowledge and education and came up with the notion of turning this user-friendly project into an interactive application. But this group wanted to stay local and refused Je\u017eek\u2019s offer to kick it up a notch, so he and a bunch of friends decided to start their own thing. From this moment on, it was pretty much a trial-and-error adventure.<\/p>\n

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In the very beginning, there was a non-profit organization run by volunteers who devoted all their free time, including weekends, to see their vision through. Using crowdfunding turned out to be a very successful idea and helped to get the business on its feet. The very first bikes were donated in exchange for the membership or bought from pawnshops or flea markets for dirt-cheap, but, after some time, they started to professionalize both the project and the bicycles. Right now, Rekola boast numbers of brand new bikes and the refurbished ones have unified sets of new components. They kept the original idea\u2019s colour, though, and by the end of 2013, first sets of distinguishable fuchsia pink Rekola bicycles started appearing in the streets.<\/p>\n

Curiously, what people really seem to like about the whole system, besides its obvious benefits, is the personalisation of the bikes. They all have names instead of boring codes and the names frequently stem from favourite movies (Neverending Story), TV series (Red Dwarf), or even various fish. Thanks to all the tracking data, the Rekola team discovered that certain users are able to travel some distance just to borrow they favourite \u201cpet bike\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cornerstone of this project is the well-built application with fast and agile system of bike shares. Upon registration on the Rekola website, putting in your card details, and choosing the right tariff for you, you\u2019re free to ride your way through the city on a daily basis. Every bike has its own unique code and after you put it in the application you\u2019ll immediately receive the bike lock combination and off you go. After you\u2019ve reached your destination, you simply lock up the bike again and tick it off in the app as returned \u2013 your smartphone will pin down the bike\u2019s exact location for both the Rekola team and all the other users to see. Smart, easy, and efficient.<\/p>\n