FAQ

When and where can I rent a bike?

You can rent Rekola bikes 24 hours a day around the wider city center of Tallinn.

Rides are billed in 30-minute intervals and there is no unlocking fee. You can pay for each ride separately, or you can get a subscription that will cover unlimited number of 30-minute rides.

Our bikes are also available in Prague and many other cities in the Czech Republic and in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Can I try Rekola Bikesharing for free?

Yes, use the code Tallinn to redeem one free 30-minute ride on any bike to try it out.

How do I register?

Download the Rekola Bikshering app for iOS or Android.

  1. Create your account: Use Sign In with Apple/Google, or enter your email and choose a password.
  2. Choose a payment method: Card, or payments via Apple Pay / Google Pay.
  3. And complete your registration.

That's it. After that, just scan the QR code on the bike and it will unlock automatically.

If you need help, please message us via the in-app chat Chat

Will the app be available in Estonian language?

For now, it's available only in English. But we plan to translate the app and other parts of our service in the future. We will let you know when it becomes available.

We started in a similar way in Slovakia and added Slovak translation when we saw popularity of the service and we've decided to increase the number of bikes there.

Renting a bike

Paying for your rides

Before you can rent a bike, you need to pick how will to pay for your rides: Apple Pay / Google Pay, or a payment card.

Adding Apple Pay or Google Pay is fast, just approve payments with a fingerprint, Face ID, etc. and you're good to go.

With payment card, you need to enter your card details and pay 0,01 € to verify your card for future payments (rides, bike reservations etc.). Our payment gateway accepts majority of debit and credit cards.

We will inform you about the current pricing before your first ride so you know how much it will cost you.

Unlocking & option to rent 2 bikes

Tap the 'Rent a bike' button in the Rekola app and scan the QR code on your chosen bike. The lock will unlock automatically. Enjoy your ride!


Unlocking a second bike

After renting your first bike, tap the big pink button 'Rent another' and scan the QR code from the sencond bike.

The second bike's lock will again unlock automatically. Second bike is billed in 30-minute intervals according to Single rides tariff: 1.25 EUR per 30 minutes in Tallinn.

How does the Subscription work?

You can choose from 2 subscription options:

  • Subscription Premium - unlimited 30-minute rides
  • Subscription Standard - 4 × 30-minute rides renewed each month

First 30 minutes are always included ("free") in the monthly price of selected subscription. Rides longer than 30-minutes (or 5th+ ride with Subscription Standard) are billed in 30-minute intervals: 1.25 EUR per 30 minutes in Tallinn. There is no unlocking fee.


Where do I activate it?
Go you the Rekola app menu to Subscription & Benefits.

When do I pay?
Our Subscription is paid automatically each month on the same day you first activated it. Example: You'll activate it on August 24th, your prepaid period lasts until September 23rd. If you don't cancel it, next payment will occur on September 24th.

If the upcoming month doesn't have the day, the payment will occur sooner. Example: You'll activate it on August 31st, next payment will occur on September 30th. (September doesn't have 31 days).

Have it under your control
You can find list of all payments in the Rekola app: Subscription & Benefits → Subscription Premium/Standard. We will also inform you via email of any changes in your Subscription.

Simple cancellation
You can easily cancel your subscription in Subscription & Benefits → Subscription Premium/Standard. Just tap the button 'Cancel Subscription'.

When you cancel, you can still enjoy unlimited rides up to 30 minutes until the end of your prepaid period. Next payment will NOT occur and your tariff will automatically change to Single rides.

You can cancel and activate any Subscription repeatedly as you need to throughout the year.

Ending ride & parking

How do I end my ride?

It's easy. Just lock the rear wheel lock with the lever.

Your ride will end automatically. We'll confirm the return of the bike with a notification and in the app.

Keeping the bike rented - after locking it

You can override the automatic return after locking the bike. To continue your journey on the same bike later.

After locking the rear wheel, go into the Rekola app and tap the button 'Keep rented'. And confirm the action.

The bike will stay locked but your rental will continue - no one else will be able to take the bike. So you can do your errand, pick up your parcel, get a coffee.

When you're back at the bike, just open the Rekola app and tap the 'Unlock' button.

If you change your mind, you can always use the 'End the ride' button and make the bike available for others. Just keep in mind that you must end your ride in a designated parking spot.

Parking spots & bikesharing area

At the end of the ride, please place your bike in the parking spots agreed with the city. These are bike racks, marked and other unmarked spots on the streets. They are shown on the map in the Rekola app as .

Returning the bike outside the parking spots may be subject to a fine of 20 €. Don't worry, the app will warn you in advance if you try to end your ride away from a parking sport and will advise you to move the bike to avoid the fine.

When parking in unmarked spots (you can check the spot photo in the Rekola app if available), please make sure your bike does not get in the way of wheelchairs, strollers, delivery robots or visually impaired people. Inappropriately parked bikes will be dealt with. We will warn users who are doing so. We may suspend user's account for ongoing bad parking.

Will you add more parking spots?

Yes, we can try. But only within the current operation area and after an agreement with the city / private subjects. If you know about a spot we're missing, please send us the location and ideally a photo to tallinn@rekola.ee. Thank you.

Will you expand your operation area?

Not now, but probably in the future. We're repeating what we've learned in Prague and Bratislava - start small, see how people are using the service, then add more bikes and with that we can expand the area.

App features

Rides history & stats

You can find an overview of all your rides, stats and payments in the Rekola app - from the menu under the Rides history.

After a second ride, we also provide interesting stats - total rides, distance, minutes, weekly rides, comparation to last year.

Bike reservation

You can reserve your bike in advance for 15 minutes for 0.5 EUR. No one else will be able to rent it during that time.

Open the Rekola app, select the bike you wish to reserve and tap on its name. Then confirm the reservation with the 'Reserve bike' button.

Reporting a problem for repair

If you encounter any problem with our bikes, you can let us know about it via the 'Report problem' button, visible during rental and after the ride ended.

So that our service team can learn about the problem before regular check and can fix it as soon as possible. Thank you!

If you have a non bike-related problem, please message us via the in-app chat Chat.

24-hour tariff

For a period of 24 hours (e.g. from 14:00 to 13:59 the next day) you get one very long ride or any number of shorter rides (only one bike at the time) included in the price of the 24-hour tariff. For example, you can go on a long afternoon trip on Saturday and another on Sunday morning.

If you are interested in renting two bikes via one account, the second bike will be billed according to Single rides tariff.

You can see the time until the end of the 24-hour tariff in the Subscription & Benefits section. You can ride the bike outside the bikesharing area, but at the end of the ride you must return the bike to one of the designated parking spots (marked as P in the app).

How can I activate the 24-hour tariff?
In the Rekola app, go to the menu and Subscription & Benefits section. Select Details for 24-hours tariff, and then activate it.

Who can use the 24-hours tariff?
Anyone. Works with any tariff or subscription.

Other questions

Availability during winter?

Cold winter will be new for us. We don't yet know if we'll be able to keep the bikes operational all-year-round like it Prague and Bratislava, or if we'll need to skip a few winter months.

Current plan is to keep our bikes on the streets as long as possible. We'll keep you informed.

How can we collaborate with you?

If you're instersted in making something happen, please reach out to Jan Střecha - jan.strecha@rekola.cz


What we did in the past:

  • Festivals, events - we can provide a promocode for a few free rides in exchange for promoting our service.
  • B2B collaborations - we did different collaborations with Redbull, HBO, banks (HelloBank), telecommunications (T-Mobile), usually promoting our partnership benefiting the bikesharing users in online and offline space.

Why are the bikes pink? And what does Rekola mean?

We started as a community project reusing (RE) bikes (KOLA = czech word for bikes), that were donated by other people. To achieve similar look, we painted the variety of old bikes with a pink color.

Pink bikes are easily visible on the street and, thanks to the unusual color, they were distinguishable from similarly looking private bikes.

From 2016, we switched to new standardized bikes, but the color and name remained.

Missing your answer? Message us via chat Chat in the Rekola app
or send an email to info@rekola.ee

Get the Rekola app and start riding!