The Warsaw Public Bike System also known as Veturilo has won the hearts of the inhabitants of Warsaw as well as tourists from Europe and from outside the Old Continent who visit the capital. The number of the users is growing every day. And so is the number of rentals. Such great interest makes it sometimes impossible to rent a bike as sometimes there are none left at the stations and people have to wait in queues to rent one.
The word Veturilo comes from the Esperanto language, the inventor of which was an optician from Warsaw- Ludwik Zamenhof. It means i.a. a vehicle or mode of transport. A student from Warsaw suggested the use of such name. His proposition won the contest organized by ZTM. His award was, not surprisingly, …a bike :-).
Currently, there are about 160 stations where you can rent a bike. There are nearly 2 500 bikes available.
Using the system is as easy as riding a bike. Each station is equipped with a panel with keyboard, a proximity card reader and a screen. With the use of it you may rent and return a bike. All the instructions are available in four languages (Polish, English, German and Russian).
Before taking a nice ride on a city bike you have to register in the system. The best solution is to use a special website: www.veturilo.waw.pl. You may also do it directly at the terminal, yet the online registration is faster and more convenient. During the registration we have to enter all the required data– including a phone number and a 6-digit PIN, accept the terms and pay a small entry fee (PLN 10). After receiving the confirmation by e-mail to the selected e-mail address – the system is ready to use.
The system identifies a customer by a phone number and a PIN code. It is also possible to rent a bike with the use of Warszawska Karta Miejska (Warsaw City Card) or a student electronic card (ELS).
To rent a bike you have to follow instructions on the screen. After conducting all the activities, a bike will be automatically released from electro lock. You leave the bike at a bike rack. It locks automatically.
First 20 minutes are free of charge. For a rental lasting from 21 minutes to 1 hour one pays PLN 1. The second hour costs PLN 3, the third one – PLN 5, and each subsequent hour– PLN 7.
To promote the system among those who have not used it yet, ZTM launched a huge promotional and informational campaign and invited a famous sportswoman from Warsaw– Zofia Klepacka, a bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in London to take part in it.
Multimedia materials played an important role in the campaign. ZTM prepared eight films – two animated ones and six feature films. One of the animations is a 60 second video tutorial in which key rules for using the Veturilo system were described. The feature films in the form of video tutorials show in practice how to safely use bikes in the city. You can watch them online (on the Veturilo website, youtube, Facebook).
In connection with the Veturilo promotional campaign, a special, commemorative template of the Warsaw City Card was prepared.
Owning to the promotional campaign more and more people register in the system. During the first month of its functioning (from 8 April till 8 May) 30 000 new users of the Veturilo appeared. The total number of the registered users amounted to 78 000. Together with nearly 11 000 users of the Bemowo Bike (a similar system introduced by the Warsaw district of Bemowo) there are nearly 90 000 users of the city bikes.
Interestingly, more and more foreigners register in the system. Only in April, nearly 430 foreigners registered; mostly Germans but also many Russians. Among other foreigners are: the English, Hungarians, the Spanish, the French and Australians.
The number of the rentals grows very quickly. During the first month of the system functioning the bikes were rented 200 000 times! In April there were 123 000 rentals which means that during 20 days of this month there were more rentals than in last August which was – taking into account the number of rentals – the best month of 2012. From the beginning of May bikes have been rented nearly 80 000 times which is more than in last October and November altogether.
During the two days (8 and 9 May) the Veturilo users rented bikes nearly 25 000 times which is more than in the whole November in 2012.
Published 10 May 2013
Last modified 3 June 2019
