Get ready, steady ... pedal

Making the most of Abu Dhabi’s answer to the hire schemes that are enjoyed across 165 cities worldwide should be easy. Mitya Underwood has a go at Abu Dhabi's new bike sharing system.

Tourists Luca Spinelli and Francesca Lusetti from Modena in Italy, using the ADCB Bikeshare on Yas Island. The couple have used similar schemes in other cities and offer their perspectives on Abu DhabShow more

The bikes are ready and the weather is perfect. Making the most of Abu Dhabi’s answer to the hire schemes that are enjoyed across 165 cities worldwide should be easy.

But despite reading the lengthy list of instructions on how to use the new bike-sharing system, the machine repeatedly tells us our account (which we are trying to set up) is not recognised. It does not seem to matter which buttons we press, and in which order, the machine just does not want to take our payment and give us a bike.

After at least 15 minutes of confusion, prodding of the machine, and a number of unanswered calls to the helpline, it becomes clear that the “Rent A Bike” section on the touch-screen is actually a cleverly disguised button, not a static advert as it first appears.

This was The National's introduction to the new bike-sharing scheme on Yas Island.

As of the end of last month, 75 shiny new bicycles are ready to offer tourists and residents the chance to step out of the car and into the saddle.

The ADCB Bikeshare scheme is slowly gathering speed and popularity as more people learn it exists.

“We came to rent bikes from a hotel but incidentally we saw the ADCB Bikeshare station,” says Luca Spinelli, holidaying in Abu Dhabi with his wife, Francesca Lusetti. “It isn’t advertised on the internet at all. I think more people would come if they knew the bikes were available.”

The couple hail from Italy, a country that has one of the largest numbers of bike-sharing schemes in the world.

As well as renting them in their hometown of Modena, the couple have used other public bike-share services in Paris, France, and Denver, Colorado.

The Velib system in Paris was set up in 2007. It has more than 20,000 bikes and 1,800 bike stations, with one every 300 metres. Riders can use mobile phone apps to check their proximity to stations and bike availability.

While one of the world’s most popular systems, it does receive some criticism.

“In Paris they are always unusable,” says Mr Spinelli. “They have flat tyres and are very heavy.

“And in Modena there is a special card that you need to charge with money and only one place to do it. If you are a tourist it is impossible. But these ones are easy,” says Mr Spinelli, 46.

So far, ADCB has installed 75 bicycles and 11 stations across Yas Island and Al Raha Beach.

The bikes themselves, made in France, have five gears and an adjustable seat. There is also a space for riders to store handbags or coats.

There are inevitably a few teething problems, though. Calls to the 800-292253 customer service number are not always answered and the link listed on Yas Island's official website www.bikeshare.ae does not load.

Even with a GPS on a mobile phone, it can be difficult to navigate the island, and it is worth noting that short distances in cars can be much longer, and hotter, on a bike.

Also, be prepared to have to carry the bike over the odd bit of greenery or up a high kerb to get from one side of the road to the other, or just to travel from one end of the street to the other.

There are also no noticeable ADCB Bikeshare signposts pointing riders in the direction of other stations, making it easy to go over the 30-minute mark if you do not know exactly where to park the bike.

The ADCB scheme, a joint initiative with bike-sharing company Cyacle, is not the first of its kind in the emirates.

There are already more than 20 stations in Dubai and Sharjah where riders can pick up and drop off the ByKy shared public bicycles.

The joint project between the German company NextBike and Dubai-based ByKy began in February 2013 with 10 stations dotted around Dubai.

The project has since been expanded to Sharjah. In theory, a cyclist could pick up a bicycle at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah, and drop it off at the Buhaira Corniche in Sharjah.

The system, however, unlike most others around the world that offer a short period free of charge, is not free.

It is Dh15 for the first 30 minutes and increases for every hour up to Dh80 for 24 hours. The penalties for improper use are Dh1,500 for a lost bike, Dh60 per 10km for returning the bike to an unofficial station and Dh15 for not locking the bike at the station.

Users need to register online, providing a name, address and mobile phone number. This needs doing only once. After this they can use a number of Android or iPhone apps to locate and pay for rentals.

Up to four bicycles can be rented at any one time through one customer account.

The need to register this information on a mobile app does make it a little trickier for tourists who may not have a working phone with an internet connection.

Even so, they are very popular, especially with people who do not have the space to store their own bike in their homes.

In Melbourne, Australia, where the bike-sharing scheme has been operating since 2010, riders are required by law to wear a bicycle helmet when renting the city’s bikes.

They can be bought for AUS$5 (Dh15) or rented and left with the bike at the end of the ride at no cost. There are 51 stations and 600 bicycles around Melbourne’s central business district.

The first bike share scheme in Europe is reported to have been set up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1965. Fifty white-coloured bikes were dotted around the city for people to use free of charge. But within a month most of the bicycles had been stolen or dumped in the city’s canals.

A programme launched in 1974 in La Rochelle, France, was more successful and is now considered as the official first of its kind in Europe.

London’s so-called Boris Bikes, named after the mayor, Boris Johnson, but officially called the Barclays Cycle Hire, have more than 700 docking stations and more than 8,000 vehicles.

A 2011 study of bike sharing reported that the average daily distance covered by all the rental bicycles in one day in the Paris programme was 903,104.

The report, printed by the University of California Transportation Centre, said as of May 2011 there were 136 bike-sharing programmes in 165 cities around the world.

The scheme in Hangzhou, China, is the largest in the world, with more than 66,500 bicycles and 2,700 stations. It has grown from just 2,800 bikes at its launch in May 2008.

There are plans to expand it to 175,000 bicycles by 2020.

While Abu Dhabi is clearly a long way from operating anything close to this scale, cycling is part of its broader strategy for public transport as a whole, with walking at one end of the scale and light rail at the other.

According to its Walking and Cycling Master Plan, there "is a strong appetite to make Abu Dhabi an even better place to live" and offering "active travel" is a way to do this.

It cites seven to eight months of the year where a favourable climate encourages walking and cycling as an opportunity the city should not ignore.

It does, however, acknowledge a lack of safe infrastructure and support facilities, as well as “real and perceived risks to personal safety on the road” as the challenges.

The master plan, produced by the Department of Transport, vowed to introduce public cycle-hire schemes and better active travel access to public transport networks.

“At the heart of the successful delivery of the master plan will be a change in attitudes to our roads and outdoor spaces among drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike. The urban environment will be safer and more accessible, no longer dominated by motor vehicles at the expense of all other users.”