Pedal for free with nextbike

Last updated: Friday, 28 August 2020

During lockdown, people made the most of being able to get out and about powered by their own two feet. Now nextbike are making it easy to carry on the healthy lifestyle with 30 minutes of free cycling.

Cars were left on driveways, train timetables were reduced and planes were grounded. And with a one-hour window each day to do some exercise close to home, it’s no surprise that walking and cycling became two of Scotland’s most popular ways to get around.

But what if you would love to cycle but don’t want to fork out for a bike and its upkeep?

Say hello to nextbike

While nextbike isn’t new to Glasgow, (you’ve probably spotted their colourful pink ‘People Make Glasgow’ livery around for a while), they have just increased the number of bikes and docking stations out there. Meaning more bikes for more people, which is a great thing.

And it’s not just Glasgow that gets to enjoy the pedal power, you can take a ride with nextbike in Stirling too.

nextbike bikes in Glasgow

30 minutes of cycle time for free

To get more bottoms on saddles, nextbike is offering 30 minutes of free cycling to people in Glasgow and Stirling. Enthusiastic riders in Glasgow can make the most of this brilliant offer until March 2021. It can be used as many times as you like so it’s well worth seeing if you can incorporate it into your daily routine. If your legs need a little assistance on the city’s hills, e-bikes can also be hired from selected nextbike locations. However, these aren’t included in the 30 free minutes offer.

Riders in Stirling can enjoy 30 minutes free until the 10th of September, 2020. Thirty minutes is a good amount of time to get you a fair distance - around the city, to the station, to your friends, to the park … the opportunities are endless. It’s a good way to sneak in your daily exercise too!

To start the wheels turning, you’ll need a nextbike account. You can sign up via their app or on their website and it should take two minutes. You register for the account, pay a £5 deposit and then you’re good to go. There’s no limit on the number of 30 minute free sessions you can use, so if you use the bike for less than 30 minutes you can swap it at an official station and enjoy another 30 minutes free. Happy cycling!

A popular way to get around

Cycle Scotland cyclists
Cycling saw a huge surge in popularity during lockdown with sales of bikes up by 63% according to the UK Bicycle Association. For nextbike, the stats were just as impressive. Their bikes were rented 32,396 times in Glasgow during June. That made it the company’s second most successful month ever as people looked for ways to get around safely. The company offered free rentals to key workers so that they had another safe option to get to work. As lockdown eases further, there’s no doubt that the number of people looking for different ways to get around will continue to increase.

Using nextbike in Glasgow

Glasgow saw a huge increase in the number of cyclists over the past few months and the nextbike scheme makes it accessible for everyone. There are 79 hire points spread around the city and surrounding areas. You’ll find them in all corners; from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in the west, to Glasgow Forge in the east, and Possilpark in the north, down to Mount Florida railway station in the south. There are just under 800 bikes available to hire across the city and you can find out exactly where to find them all here.

While nextbike have made getting your feet on the pedals cheap and easy, Glasgow City Council have also made the city’s roads a lot more bike friendly with the Spaces for People programme. Over the past few months, miles of temporary pop-up cycle lanes have appeared, making getting around by bike feel a lot safer. As well as being an environmentally friendly way to get around, cycling has so many health benefits, both physical and mental. Why not give it a go the next time you’re thinking of heading into town? You’ll find nextbike close to lots of train stations across the city so if you find yourself commuting back into town, you could always take the train part of the way and complete the rest on bike. At least on those sunny days anyway.

Using nextbike in Stirling

During lockdown, Stirling saw a huge surge in the number of people taking to two wheels for their daily exercise. According to nextbike, one location in the city saw an increase of 61% more cyclists than on that day in 2019. For a lot of people, being able to get out on a bike provided some freedom when there wasn’t much else to do. The past few months have been difficult for everyone and cycling has been one way to not only get some daily exercise, but to improve mental health too. Nextbike knows how having access to a bike can make a difference all round so until the 10th of September, riders in Stirling can enjoy the first 30 minutes for free. If you use the bike for less than 30 minutes you can swap it at an official station and enjoy another 30 minutes free. There’s no limit on the number of free 30-minute sessions you can have.

Get your free 30 minutes

To start enjoying your free 30 minutes of pedal power, take a look at nextbike’s website here for all the details.

If you’ve already got your own bike and would like to know more about taking your bike on ScotRail trains, you’ll find everything you need to know when you click the button below.

Bikes on trains
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