Spring brings lots of news from the Cycle Competence members: Bikeleasing-Service strengthens our company bike sector, five smart hire garages from radverteiler have been installed in Mödling and WINTERSTEIGER SPORTS has upgraded its automatic car wash to make it more user-friendly. In addition, the city of Salzburg passed a municipal council resolution in favour of the S-Bike system and Rosinak & Partner published a participation guide.

New member: Bikeleasing-Service strengthens the company bike sector

Our Cycle Competence platform has gained a new member: Company bike leasing operator Bikeleasing-Service. Bikeleasing-Service has been getting employees, the self-employed and freelancers in Germany onto company bikes since 2015. In 2020, the service came to Austria and, as an interface between employers, employees, leasing banks and bike dealers, ensures that company bike leasing is easy for everyone involved.

Enthusiasm for cycling and the conviction that sustainable mobility should be available to as many people as possible are the cornerstones of the bike leasing idea. With many years of experience and a comprehensive range of services, customers are supported throughout the entire leasing process. Find out more here in our member portrait. This makes us the second company bike provider in our group alongside JobRad Austria!

Further development of the WINTERSTEIGER bike wash system

Our member WINTERSTEIGER has further developed its Velobrush automatic bike washing system and is now introducing the Velobrush Smart. With a new, user-friendly operating concept, the Velobrush Smart enables low-threshold self-service and makes the Velobrush Smart particularly attractive for municipalities and tourist areas. Another highlight of the Velobrush Smart is the integrated Nayax payment module for card payments. WINTERSTEIGER is convinced that concepts like this will make a significant contribution to the further expansion of cycling infrastructure in public spaces.

Mödling invests in smart hire garages for transport bikes

Following the great success of the ‘MoeTraBi’ sharing transport bike, the municipality of Mödling has purchased five more rental transport bikes and, for the first time, self-sufficient rental garages from Radkompetenz member radverteiler. The bikes can be borrowed by the public free of charge for up to three days and will be available in the smart hire garages at five different locations in Mödling from the beginning of April 2025. The locking system and charging of the e-bikes in the garages runs on solar energy, without any electricity connection and completely self-sufficiently, including monitoring of the system and the bikes with GPS analysis. This project is subsidised by Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH.

As a result, radverteiler has successfully developed its smart hire box, which consists of a small wall cabinet with power supply, charger and mobile opening via smartphone, into a smart hire garage. Two of these garages are already located in Spittal a.d. Drau. Both hire boxes and garages can be opened around the clock by registered bike distributor users if they have reserved the bike. More information about the MoeTraBi system here.

Participation guide from Rosinak & Partner

The planning company Rosinak & Partner has developed an online guide to help municipalities organise climate protection-oriented processes in a participatory manner. The aim is to involve citizens and interest groups in projects to redesign public spaces.

In ten steps, the guide shows how effective measures and strategies for adapting to climate change can be developed and implemented together with citizens and interest groups.

Each step is organised into individual sub-items and offers comprehensive information, practical tips and examples. At the end of each step, all important points can be checked and ticked off on a checklist. The entire participation process is also analysed using an example municipality.

Citizen participation can strengthen both trust in political leaders and cohesion within the municipalities. At the same time, the quality and acceptance of projects is increased. Overall, the online guide is a practical and comprehensive collection of resources for citizen participation processes.

You can find more information and click through the guide here.

Salzburg gets ‘S-Bike’ sharing

Salzburg will introduce a new bike-sharing system called ‘S-Bike’ in spring 2026. As part of the project, which was announced back in 2013, 600 e-bikes will be made available at 63 stations in the city. In the long term, the network is to be expanded to 1,000 bikes at up to 100 locations.

The exclusive provision of e-bikes should make it possible to cover longer distances beyond the city limits. It is also more inclusive for people with limited fitness or mobility.

The e-bikes can be rented and returned at fixed stations. Users have the option of renting the bikes either via app or with a customer card. The costs are based on the duration of use, with owners of a climate ticket or a Salzburg public transport network card travelling for free for the first 30 minutes.

‘S-Bike’ is intended to create an offer that can promote the switch to bicycles and replace cars. It is aimed in particular at commuters, students and residents of the city. In public transport, it is often the ‘first/last mile’ – the journey to and from the bus stop – that makes the difference. The ‘S-Bike’ is intended to also make this route accessible.

The Salzburg Transport Association will realise the project and look for an operator through a tender. The city and state of Salzburg will each bear 50 per cent of the costs, with a total budget of EUR 1.66 million expected for 2025.

Illustrations: Bikeleasing-Service, Wintersteiger, Austrian Energy Agency and Peter Weiß