The director of the transportation company in Pardubice does not rule out cooperation with bikesharing

“It’s a fresh idea. I learned about nextbike’s departure a week before last. Although we discussed it when nextbike came to Pardubice, they first wanted to try it alone, then with the support of the city, and then the region, but that did not work out,” said Pelikán.

In the past, the city of Pardubice negotiated with the bicycle operator to provide users with 15 minutes of free riding time, but the council was against it. The company wanted 1.5 million Czech Crowns in 2021, which was rejected by the council at the time. The council also did not accept a compromise sum of 600,000 Crowns proposed by the deputy mayor. Regional subsidies for bikesharing are not targeted at statutory cities like Pardubice.

The integration of public transport and shared bikes works in other countries; in the Czech Republic, nextbike and Rekola collaborate with the Prague transport company. Pass holders can borrow bikes for a quarter of an hour for free, twice a day. Pardubice could follow a similar path, Pelikán suggested.

“If we are to subsidize shared bikes, then we want to have it under control. I can imagine combining it with a time-based ticket, using shared bikes in combination with public transport. It seems like an interesting thing and perhaps we should accept the challenge,” said Pelikán.

The bicycle competes with public transport, but I don’t mean that in a bad way

Pelikán has long said that in Pardubice, the bicycle is a competitor to public transport. Pardubice is a cycling city, where many people commonly use bicycles as a means of transport. “If the city started to support shared bikes, I wouldn’t oppose being an operator or co-operator. I see the bike and public transport as competitors, but I don’t mean it in a bad way. Pardubice is a cycling city,” said Pelikán.

Shared bikes started operating in Pardubice in May 2020, and in September, the company Bolt began operating electric scooters. Later, the company Lime also started scooter operations in the regional city. According to Pelikán, it is important to have entry data on how shared bikes are used and under what conditions, and how the competition of electric scooters is entering the market.

“Scooters definitely compete with bicycles. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t allow scooters into the city. People often behave irresponsibly on them. It has happened that someone threw a scooter onto the roof of a bus stop. Another time someone had headphones on, was riding a scooter, saw nothing, heard nothing, and hit the middle doors of a moving bus,” said Pelikán.

In this respect, it is interesting that experiences with shared scooters across Czech cities vary. For instance, Stanislav Losert, the cycling coordinator from Olomouc mentioned to Městem na kole that Olomouc’s experience with shared scooters is definitely not negative, unlike in other cities, especially since dedicated parking spots for them were introduced.