The Shared Bike System in Pardubice gets canceled; Nextbike could not agree with the city

„During our operation in Pardubice, unfortunately, we were unable to secure support from the city to the extent necessary to maintain the quality and the pace of the development of the service at a level it deserves. The current situation is no longer sustainable for us, and therefore, we will remove the bikes from Pardubice at the beginning of May,“ wrote Nextbike to its users and on social networks.

In the first year of operation in Pardubice, Nextbike’s bikes were free for the first 15 minutes, but in 2021, city officials decided that users would pay for rides themselves, either on a one-time basis or through a subscription. Nextbike later requested similar support for the year 2024 from the city as it received in nearby Hradec Králové, namely 1.5 million Czech crowns. An offer for 600,000 crowns was later made, but the city council members (ANO 2011, Žijeme Pardubice, and Společně pro Pardubice) could not agree on it.

According to Mayor Jan Nadrchal (ANO), speaking to the Czech News Agency, Pardubice decided not to support bikesharing partly because the local transport company saw it as competition and is considering setting up its own service. Another reason may be that the Pardubice region supports this service in Česká and Moravská Třebová, but the biggest city in the region was excluded.

Nextbike hopes that after this break, it might return to the city again. Those who have credits loaded in the app can still use them in other cities that support the service.