Are you tired of waiting almost every second day for 30mins in the bitter cold until the next Ringbahn is coming?
Are you fed up with sick passengers sneezing and coughing into your face on the way to work?
Ok, we admit we paint a very dark picture of public transportation in Berlin, but if you prefer to take the bike to work or from A to B why not try out one of the many bike sharing companies in Berlin?
In the beginning of 2018 bikesharing companies were booming all over Berlin. So much that sometimes close to S-Bahn and U-Bahn entrances you would find 50 bikes spilled all over the place.
But now after some time the first bikesharing companies already closed down and a few good companies survived the hype.
But still with so many companies to choose from it is a tough question how to find the best bike sharing company in Berlin. So let’s have a look at the best ones!
And if you want to have all advantages compared in one nice overview check out our table at the bottom of the page.
Our favorite bike sharing company right now is Nextbike.
Nextbikes are great quality and have real tyres filled with air – not like many other cheap Asian bike rental companies that only have airless rubber tyres, which makes cycling very difficult.
Also in Berlin you have the so called flex-zones that allow you to leave the bike anywhere inside this zone instead of searching for the next station.
Best of all you can rent up to 4 bikes at the same time to have a trip with your friends. Just download the app and enjoy biking.
Another great bike sharing company is Call a Bike, which is operated by Deutsche Bahn.
Call a Bike offers a free floating system which lets you drop off your bikes at their stations or, for a fee of just 1€, anywhere within their business area but not at one of their stations.
Similar to Deezer Nextbike the Call a Bike bicicles are good quality bikes with air-filled tyres and are usually in perfect shape and condition.
You are able to rent up to 2 bikes at the same time with the same account, which comes in handy if you have a friend over visiting. Just download the app and start cycling.
Another cool company coming from the US is Lime Bikes.
Basically they work the same way as all the other bike sharing companies.
Download the app, find a bike, ride from A to B, drop off your bike and pay with the app.
However one cool thing is that they also do have some E-Bikes for rental.
Yes, Berlin is not San Francisco with steep hills, but trust me if you are on the way to work and you don’t want to smell like you just came out of the gym those E-Bikes are the real deal.
| Nextbike | Call a Bike | Lime Bikes | |
| Price | 1€ first 30 mins 1,5€ each following 30 mins | 3€/year 1,50€ first 30 mins 1€ each following 30 mins | 1€ each 30 mins 5,50€ E-Bikes each 30 mins |
| Discounts | – | Available for Students, 65+ years and Bahncard clients | – |
| No. of bikes at the same time | Up to 4 bikes | Up to 2 bikes | 1 |
| Drop-off | Flex zones Stations Within S-Bahn Ring | Drop-off wherever within S-Bahn Ring Discount at Stations | Drop-off wherever within S-Bahn Ring |
| Type of tyres | Air-filled | Air-filled | Air-filled |
| Quality of bikes | Great | Great | Great |
| E-Bikes available | No | No | Yes |
If you do not feel like biking and prefer to drive in a car from A to B then check out our guide to the best carsharing companies in Berlin. Gute Fahrt!