NS (Dutch Railroads) will test the rental of electric public transport bicycles

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The NS will start a trial this summer with the rental of electric public transport bicycles. These public transport e-bikes will be tested for a year. Renting such an electric bicycle costs 10 euros per day.

NS will make 30 public transport ebikes available at four stations during the trial. The company wants to use this to investigate whether the public transport ebike is popular and whether the electric bicycles can be ‘a valuable addition’ to the normal public transport bicycles.

“With the OV-ebike, we want to make it even more attractive and easier for travelers who have to travel a little further from the station to take a bicycle for the last part of their journey,” says Marise Bezema, responsible for the OV-fiets at NS.

Range more than 100 kilometers
The range of the e-bike in the eco mode is 110 kilometers, the NS informs Bright. In the normal position, 70 kilometers of electrical assistance is possible on a full battery and in the highest position, the range is 50 kilometers.

10 euros per day
Renting an e-bike costs 10 euros per 24 hours. With a normal OV-fiets, the daily rate is 4.15 euros. The NS will inform you shortly at which stations the electric bicycles will be parked.

The company presented the trial with public transport ebikes to consumer organisations, ProRail and municipalities. According to the NS, the reactions to the plan are ‘positive’.

GPS tracker due to risk of theft
Theft of the e-bikes is a risk and that is why they are equipped with a GPS tracker. In the event of loss or theft, the bicycle can be found with this.

The NS wants to use the GPS information for research during the trial. This allows information about, for example, the travel distances, the location of the bicycle and the speed to be mapped. In order to preserve the privacy of consumers, the personal data and location data are stored separately. As a result, the supplier knows where the e-bike in question is, but not who is on the bike. The NS knows who is on the e-bike, but not where it is.

Previous attempt unsuccessful
It is not the first time that NS will rent out electric public transport bicycles. Between 2011 and 2014, e-bikes were already offered at a small number of stations for 7.50 euros per day, but that project proved unsuccessful. The same applied to the range of electric public transport scooters, which the NS also stopped at the end of 2014.

NS currently rents out a total of almost 22 thousand public transport bicycles at 300 locations. A personal OV chip card is required for renting.

One thought on “NS (Dutch Railroads) will test the rental of electric public transport bicycles

  1. Turalska Joanna says:

    It doesn’t surprise me that the previous projects failed. Riding those bikes five days in a row will cost you 50 euros, which is a price of a regular pre-owned bike. I’m curious if the trial will succeed this time.

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