By bike and scooter
Picturesque routes on the Oder, well-developed infrastructure and lots of places that are easiest to reach by bike – Wroclaw is a paradise for cyclists. Wroclaw inhabitants and visitors also like riding electrical scooters through the city.
In Wroclaw, a few dozen thousand inhabitants use bikes every day. Their number grows every year – people of every age, including families with children, switch to bikes largely due to the introduction of new conveniences for cyclists.
Those who regularly cycle through the city have a network of separated routes with contraflow lanes and bike boxes. This solution has civilised bike traffic in the city centre and on access routes and has improved their safety.
Passages under bridges (Wroclaw has most of them among Polish cities) are a great convenience allowing cyclists to travel through intersections without collisions.
Rent a city bike
In Wroclaw, the Nextbike city bike system is active. It consists of stationary bike rental points. In more than 200 points of the city, you can take a comfortable city bike (there are around 1,000) and ride ahead. The first 20 minutes of ride by the Wroclaw City Bike are free of charge.
In order to use the rental point, you have to register in the international Nextbike system. Irrespective of their geographical location, systems are compatible with one another, which means that their users can rent bikes in any city around the world where such rental points operate.
On the website of the Wroclaw City Bike, you can find instructions for the use of the rental point in three languages: Polish, English and German. HERE.
Routes on the Oder and through parks
On the cycling map of Wroclaw, there are must-rides – popular routes along the Oder and its canals are popular. Many cyclists have their favourite routes that run through parks.
The bicycle is an easier way to visit districts and housing estates located farther away from the city centre – Osobowice, Brochów, Krzyki, Karłowice, or the areas of the former harbour on the Oder.
It is also worth taking a ride to the city borders to reach Pawłowice, Wojnowice or Trestno. There are a few regularly updated Facebook profiles with dozens of ideas and plans for an interesting trip.
An installation using old bikes in a tenement house in Nadodrze
In the capital of Lower Silesia there are no elevations – height differences are minimal.
Wroclaw cycling lovers regularly initiate campaigns to promote this kind of activity. Among others, bike exchange events and the cyclic Critical Bike Mass are held.
Initiatives involving vehicles with a gear rack, a bell and a derailleur gear constitute a very large part of projects being carried out under the Wroclaw Citizens’ Budget (it is up to Wroclaw inhabitants to decide what is worth spending a few dozen million zlotys from the city budget).
Electric scooters
Electric scooters have quickly become popular as a means of transport. Riding a scooter requires no licence; scooters are user-friendly and do not require a parking place.
In Wroclaw, there are two electric scooter (e-scooter) rental points: Hive and Lime.
The devices are driven by electrical engines and can reach a speed of 25 km/h. They are generally intended for one person, but you can often come across couples using the same vehicle.
See the rules according to which you can rent a Hive or Lime-S scooter.
Hive electric scooters: how to rent a scooter
You can rent e-scooters using a free application operating on Android and IOS systems.
Then you can find available e-scooters on the map – they can be unblocked by scanning the received QR code.
The starting fee for renting an e-scooter is 2.50 PLN, and the cost per minute of use is 45 groszy.
In order to finish your ride, just park in a safe place and click the “Finish your ride" button.
The application makes it possible to park a scooter for a period of 30 minutes without having to finish and resume the ride, and no other person than the logged user will be allowed to use the scooter during that time.
The Segway ES4 model is the basis of Hive’s fleet, allowing users to move around the city quickly and comfortably at a speed of maximum 25 km/h.
Safety tips recommended by Hive:
- put on a helmet while using a scooter;
- leave the scooter in a place where it will not endanger other road traffic participants.
- adjust your speed to driving conditions.
Lime-S electric scooters
Lime is an electric start-up supported by Google and Uber that makes it possible to rent electric scooters, e.g., in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Prague and Wroclaw.
You can rent electric scooters using the Lime application. They have a speed-up button and two brakes – one is operated by a hand, the other by a leg. A ride costs 2 PLN as a starting fee and 50 groszy for each minute of use. Scooters are collected for the night and put in designated places again in the morning.
How to use Lime
- Download the Lime-S application.
- Find Lime-S electric scooters.
- Scan the QR code or enter the number to unblock the scooter.
- Block the scooter safely after use.
Safety of Lime-S
- the use of helmets in Poland is not compulsory, but it is worth considering;
- always comply with the traffic rules and choose the safest road for yourself and others as far as possible;
- park the scooter so as not to disturb other road traffic participants.
Ewa Waplak