Bike+Ride and integrated information in Rhine-Ruhr
VRR, the public transport authority of the German Rhine-Ruhr conurbation (7.2m inhab. on a 5,000 km2 territory), incites passengers of public transport to use bicycle to go to stations.
More than 8,000 bicycles can be parked close to stations, and the number is growing very fast. A list of these Bike and Ride facilities can be downloaded from VRR’s website.
More and more cities are also providing some boxes so as to protect bicycles from theft and bad weather. 1,000 such boxes can already be rented by passengers with an electronic card that gives access to the box.
VRR has launched in 2003 an initiative aiming to improve and integrate the information provided by the 27 transport companies operating networks on its territory.
The objective is to inform the passengers in a faster, more flexible and more personalised way about the latest news of public transport systems, whatever their company.
The internet will be a key tool, but telephone call centre and more traditional devices (paper information) will also be used. Implementation is expected in 2005.