City bike rental to become easier

By Kim Se-jeong

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Sunday it will revamp the membership registration system for the city’s shared bicycle network to enhance user convenience.

The bikes currently run on membership and those who want to use them must type in personal information details to a central server and go through a smartphone authorization process.

Under the new system, users can simply use their social media accounts to log in.

Since the rental service began in 2015, the city government has 20,000 bikes running across the city with 1,290 rental spots. It costs 1,000 won per hour.

The city is also going to diversity the fare system.

Currently, one user can rent only one bike at a time and have two fare options _ one hour or two hours. Those who use them often can buy a pass that lasts a week, 30, 180 and 365 days. But, under the new system, one user will be allowed to rent multiple bikes and can keep them for up to 24 hours.

In accordance with the bikes’ popularity, the city will set up an additional 250 pick-up spots across the city.

“The contribution that the bikes are making to the lives of people is big. We will continue to monitor the system and upgrade it,” the city said in a statement.

The city bike system is available in all districts in Seoul with almost 600,000 members and bikes have been rented out over 6.7 million times since it started.