Many of you have probably seen these “share cycles” around.
You might think this is just an ordinary private-sector service, but it has actually been run as a Nishinomiya City project on a trial basis since 2019.
Now, it’s been decided that the service will officially launch in earnest from April this year.
At first, the fee was 60 yen for 15 minutes, but now it’s 130 yen for the first 30 minutes after you start using it, then 100 yen for every additional 15 minutes, with a maximum of 1,800 yen if used within 12 hours.
In Nishinomiya, you can usually get where you’re going within 30 minutes, so most rides only cost 130 yen.
Quoted from Nishinomiya City Share Cycle Project | Nishinomiya City Website
The number of cycle ports has also grown from 7 at the beginning, to 41 in 2022, then 58 in 2023, and now apparently to as many as 77. That’s 11 times the original number!
Since you can pick up a bike at one cycle port and drop it off at another, it’s pretty convenient. Sometimes the port where you want to park is full, or all the bikes at the port you want to use are already taken, which is unfortunate, but that should improve as the number of ports increases.
If you have a smartphone and a credit card, you can start using it right away. It’s handy for things like going somewhere by bike and coming back by train, or when you’re heading out for drinks.
The city’s information page has an easy-to-understand guide on how to use it.
