Nextbike subscription – with rental bikes to the bikesharing market leader in Europe

Bike rental system provider Nextbike GmbH says it is the European market leader in bike sharing. The company has been developing bike sharing systems for over 14 years and has entered into numerous cooperations. In doing so, the offer sees itself as a supplement to bus & train. In 2019, Nextbike was named test winner in the German bike sharing market by Stiftung Warentest. If you want to rent a bike in Europe, you can hardly avoid Nextbike. Founded in Germany in 2014, the company now has over 200 locations worldwide. The headquarters are in Leipzig with almost 300 employees. Other locations include the UK, Austria, Switzerland, the USA, India, Latvia, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, New Zealand, Bulgaria and Croatia.

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Profile:

  • Company name: Nextbike GmbH
  • Industry: Mobility
  • Formation:  2004
  • Founder: Ralf Kalupner
  • Location: Leipzig
  • Number of employees: 271
  • Turnover: not specified
  • Investors: not specified
  • Total Funding Amount: not known
  • Subscription-based model since: Start
  • Offering structure: Bike-Sharing, Nextbike subscription model for renting bikes
  • Product costs: Basic rate: 1€/30minutes, max.9€/24h rental – Monthly rate: 10€/month + rental costs

Bike rental system provider Nextbike GmbH says it is the European market leader in bike sharing. The company has been developing bike sharing systems for over 14 years and has entered into numerous cooperation’s. In doing so, the offer sees itself as a supplement to bus & train.  In 2019, Nextbike was named test winner in the German bike sharing market by Stiftung Warentest. If you want to rent a bike in Europe, you can hardly avoid Nextbike. Founded in Germany in 2014, the company now has over 200 locations worldwide.

The headquarters are in Leipzig with almost 300 employees. Other locations include the UK, Austria, Switzerland, the USA, India, Latvia, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, New Zealand, Bulgaria and Croatia.

Nextbike subscription to rent a bike works around the clock

Nextbike subscription offers a bike rental system that is available around the clock. Free registration is possible via the app, the website, rental terminals or the telephone hotline. To rent a bike, the user simply enters the bike code or scans the QR code attached to the bike with the Nextbike app. The user then receives a code for the bike lock and can open it. Up to four bikes can be rented at the same time per account, so that spontaneous rides in small groups are also possible without any problems. The bikes are returned at Nextbike stations or in some cities in defined zones.

The basic rate is €1.30 per minute with a maximum of €9 for 24 hours. With a monthly rate of €10, the first 30 minutes are always free of charge.

Nextbike operates numerous cooperation’s with cities and companies

Nextbike costs differ from standard prices in some cities such as Berlin or Bonn because Nextbike GmbH enters into numerous cooperation’s with city administrations and other companies. In Berlin, for example, the Senate subsidizes the bicycle system with 1.5 million euros per year. Nextbike also cooperates here with the music streaming provider Deezer, which rents out its bikes as “Deezer nextbike”. In Cologne, holders of a monthly ticket from the Cologne public transport company can use the Nextbike bikes for 30 minutes free of charge.

Nextbike is financed by rental fees and advertising on the bicycles. Another cooperation partner is Visa, which grants free minutes on Nextbike bikes to users of its credit card. For students, too, the use is often cheaper due to cooperation’s with the universities.

Nextbike subscription concept for business customers

For business customers, Nextbike GmbH offers various options, among others, the bikes can also be rented as employee bikes. To this end, Nextbike subscription seeks dialogue with the city administration at each location in order to integrate the rental bikes into the public transport concept. Often this is done under their own names such as bilbaobizi in Bilbao or Veturilo in Warsaw. In Munich, the concept is already being extended from the city centre to the surrounding areas. The installation of flexible parking zones in particular has led to a strong increase in the number of users in recent years. 

A step ahead with own Nextbike workshop

The potential for cooperation and subsidies in the bike sharing industry is huge in times of climate change and a shift in transport. Bike sharing is therefore a highly competitive market. Nextbike’s biggest competition in Germany is Deutsche Bahn, which rents out bicycles at railway stations and in 60 German cities with “Call a Bike”.  In Nextbike GmbH’s own workshop, new solutions are constantly being researched in order to stay ahead of the competition in terms of innovation and user-friendliness.

Bikesharing as an important building block for mobility

Experts see bike sharing as an important building block for mobility, especially in cities. The Nextbike brand has recorded double-digit growth rates, which can also be attributed to the strategic cooperation with cities and municipalities. It remains to be seen to what extent the current trend around the E-Scooter will compete with the rental of bicycles.