Public bikesharing system in Warsaw – a case study

Public bikesharing system is a type of urban transport in which bicycles are available for hire by the general public. Systems consist of several elements: terminals, docking stations, bicycles, hotline customer service, service center and logistics system. The purpose of the article was to assess Veturilo, a new public bikesharing system in Warsaw, the biggest of such systems in Poland. The research is based on industry reports, press releases and two in-depth interviews with Veturilo representative and Vice-president of the European Cyclists' Federation. The Veturilo, Warsaw public bikesharing system has been operating since August 2012. It represents third generation of systems using electronic communications for bicycle pickup, drop-off and tracking. The Veturilo is based on business model assuming municipal and private units involved in running the system. Some of the tasks are provided by Public Transport Unit in Warsaw, some – by private operator. The scale of the system has been dynamically growing, currently it consists of 2,666 bicycles and 174 terminals (2014). The system has achieved a scale that might be compared with advanced West-European systems (during two years of existence). It has been becoming quite popular among citizens, so far, 180 thousand of users have already used the public bikesharing, renting bicycles almost 3 million times. It seems that Veturilo system helps to popularize the idea of a public bikesharing in Poland.