Nishinomiya City to Trial Bike-Sharing Service Starting This Summer

Nishinomiya City is apparently going to run a trial to see whether a bike-sharing service is effective for north-south travel among Nishinomiya residents.

Kobe Shimbun NEXT｜Hanshin｜Nishinomiya City to launch bike-sharing trial, exploring demand for north-south travel

According to the linked article, starting around this summer and lasting for a year and a half, the city will work with OpenStreet, a private company that operates bike-sharing services, to test whether rental bicycles are effective for north-south travel.

Incidentally, OpenStreet, which runs the bike-sharing service, has been offering bike-sharing services in Nishinomiya City, Amagasaki City, and Osaka City since 2017.

The Advantage of Nishinomiya City’s Bike-Sharing Service Is the Many Drop-Off Locations

The advantage of bike sharing is that you can drop off the bike at a different location. That said, you can’t just leave it anywhere you like. There are places called cycle ports, which are bicycle parking areas where shared bikes can be dropped off, installed in various locations such as near stations, and you return the bike there.

This time, Nishinomiya City will reportedly install several dozen new cycle ports where bikes can be dropped off, including near stations and in parks. The more drop-off locations there are, the more convenient it becomes, and if a cycle port opens nearby, it’ll be easy to use casually.

For example, you could rent a bike at Koshien Station → ride to Gardens and drop it off → go shopping → rent another shared bike → ride straight to Hanshin Nishinomiya and drop it off → go home by bus. That’s the kind of use that would be possible. (Currently, there are no cycle ports around Gardens.)

How to Use Bike Sharing

Using the bike-sharing service is easy.

1. Register your email address and payment method on your smartphone
2. Select your preferred date, time, and port
3. Receive an email with a PIN code
4. Enter the PIN code on the touch panel of the bicycle at the port
5. Ride
6. Drop it off at any port

Since borrowing and returning can be done without staff, it feels incredibly easy and casual.

The Shared Bikes Are Electric Bicycles

Currently, there seem to be 15 electric bicycles at each cycle port. That’s really helpful in Nishinomiya, where some areas have a lot of hills. With an electric bicycle, even if you have heavy shopping bags in the front basket, you can ride uphill with ease, so it’s extremely convenient. If you’ve never ridden one before, I think you’ll be surprised if you try it once.

The Fee Is 60 Yen for 15 Minutes

The bike-sharing fee is 60 yen per 15 minutes. That makes it 240 yen per hour.

There also seems to be a maximum cap of 1,000 yen for 24 hours of use, so that’s reassuring.

Current Cycle Ports

It said there are currently seven cycle ports in the city, but I could only find the following six.

• Hanshin Koshien West Bicycle Parking Lot
• Hanshin Koshien North Bicycle Parking Lot
• Hanshin Nishinomiya West Bicycle Parking Lot
• Hanshin Nishinomiya East Bicycle Parking Lot
• Hanshin EBISTA Nishinomiya No. 1 Bicycle Parking Lot
• Reso Naruohama Bicycle Parking Lot

There are two around Koshien Station, three around Hanshin Nishinomiya Station, and one at Reso Naruohama.

Cycle Ports May Also Be Added at Kotoen, Kwansei Gakuin, and Omaehama

Nishinomiya Mayor Toshiro Ishii said on YouTube a year ago that he wanted to introduce bike sharing.

In the video, he says it would be nice if bikes could also be returned at Kotoen Station, Kwansei Gakuin, and Omaehama. I don’t know if that will actually happen, but since things have moved as far as a trial, it might be okay to get our hopes up a little.