Rent-a-bike (C)

Rent-a-bike is a company that offers a network of publicly available bikes in a city. Customers can call a special phone number to receive a numerical code to open the bike's electronic lock and use it for a certain time. They can leave the bike at any place in town. For the service they pay 6 cents per minute, with a maximum of 15 EUR per day. Rent-a-bike was first launched in Munich in April 2000. Christian Hogl, the founder, realized that it would be very convenient to combine the public transport system in Munich with the comfort of bikes. Rent-a-bike had 35,000 customers in its first year, a fleet of 1,800 bikes and a call center with 50 full time employees. However, the company ran into serious cash problems because the business was underfunded. By the end of 2000, CALL A BIKE AG had to file for bankruptcy. Deutsche Bahn, the public railway company in Germany bought the CALL A BIKE AG's assets in 2001. Today, Rent-a-bike (now a Deutsche Bahn business) operates with a total of 4,200 bikes and more than 50,000 customers. Christian Hogl is not involved in the company anymore.