"Call a bike" iPhone app put to the test.

Finally there was a chance to try out DB's "Call a bike" offering here in Munich. I needed to head to my doctor and was sure that I need to take a taxi home. DB has created a pretty slick App for the iPhone, which can be used to locate and rent the famous rental bikes.

Rental is pretty straight forward: You locate the bike closest to you, walk there (a block in my case) enter the id of the bike, get the opening code, unlock the bike using the code and off you go. To turn it back in the procedure is reversed, you get the lock confirmation code, type it into the app, specify the exact location and you are done. All in all it does not take much longer than unlocking one of my bikes. The 15 min ride to my doc cost around an Euro (the app will report the price straight away) The price drops by the time you rent, but for a short ride this is pretty decent compared to the 2.20€ for the U-Bahn.
Overall pretty cool. The only two things that I did not like so much: the bikes have full suspension, which feels a bit like a Camel ride on tarmac - and after the ride I felt I want to wash my hands (which is a good idea anyways). If you rent a bike and you have a chance, all you co-rental folks will appreciate if you wash your fingers if you had fries before. :) But I am exaggerating here, it wasn't really bad.

I have been to Kaiserslautern yesterday and was quite pleased to see that there are 5 bikes waiting to be taken for a ride in front of the main station, although I did not have a chance to rent one.