Should the weather be nice this week-end, bicycle fans have reason to rejoice, as several bike rental centers are re-opening. Three of the six existing Cicloteque bike rental centers reopen today (April 6 ) in Tineretului, Titan and Herastrau park, with 100 bikes available for users daily between 12,00 and 20,00. The remaining three centers in Drumul Taberei, at the Law Faculty near the National Opera and at Romana Square will reopen later on this month.

On Saturday (April 7 ), at 11,00, the iVelo bike centers in Herastrau re-open. A press conference and a cycling tour will also be organized in the parl. The first two hours on iVelo bikes is free, whereas at Cicloteque, an hour of biking costs RON 2, while a full day, RON 10, while a full week-end costs RON 20. Prices halve for students.

i'Velo is a project from Raiffeisen bank and Green Revolution, making available 950 bikes in six cities: Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj – Napoca, Iasi, Constanta and Brasov. The re-opening of the center in Timisoara is scheduled for April 10. There are four i'Velo centers in Bucharest: two in Herastrau park, one in Tineretului and one in Izvor park. 600 bikes are available in Bucharest, 100 in Brasov, 135 each in Cluj – Napoca, Iasi and Constanta. (in picture, Steven van Groningen, head of Raiffeisen Bank Romania, biking)

Cycloteque, supported by UniCredit Tiriac Bank and Mai Mult Verde, runs six centers in Bucharest.

Bike sharing has become popular in Bucharest over the last two years, as well as biking in general. This has triggered higher bike traffic in parks and in the city during the week-end, higher sales for bike shops and a gradually increasing number of bike owners.

editor@romania-insider.com