Pick up a bike at an S-Bahn station, leave it in the next town, and pay nothing for the first half hour: since 7 May that has been possible around Munich with MyRadl, the MVV’s regional bike-sharing scheme. But the discount hangs on a condition that is easy to miss.
MyRadl covers Munich and 36 surrounding towns and municipalities. About 1,000 stations are in place, with more than 6,700 bikes planned in total – classic bicycles and pedelecs. Bikes can be taken and returned around the clock, across municipal and district boundaries. The operator is nextbike, which won the European tender; the system is backed by the MVV, the City of Munich and the surrounding districts.
What does a ride cost, and who rides free?
The base rate is €1 per 30 minutes for a classic bike and €3 for an e-bike. The day rate is €9 (bike) or €18 (e-bike) per ride. Holders of an eligible transport subscription ride a classic bike free for the first 30 minutes of each rental; on an e-bike the first half hour costs €1.50. After that, the standard price applies.
According to the MVV, eligible users are MVG subscribers and those who bought their Deutschland-Ticket directly in the MVV app, plus Hochschule Landshut students with a discounted Deutschland-Ticket from the MVV. If you bought your Deutschland-Ticket elsewhere, for example from Deutsche Bahn, you currently do not get the discount; the MVV says more partners will be added “shortly”. The €365 pupils’ ticket is excluded. The sources we checked do not give prices for monthly and annual MyRadl subscriptions without a transport pass – they are listed on myradl.de.
Usage figures show what this means in practice: in the first six weeks there were about 116,200 rides, roughly a third on pedelecs. The average ride lasted 19 minutes and covered 2.4 kilometres. Someone riding like that with an eligible subscription pays nothing on a classic bike; without one it would be €1 per ride, or €3 on an e-bike.
How to get a bike
MyRadl works through the MVV app, the MVGO app and the nextbike app. A one-off registration is required before the first ride; then you scan the QR code on the rear wheel. Subscribers need to save their subscription number once so the discount applies. Stations are shown in the apps and on myradl.de. For problems, nextbike’s service line is +49 89 12230341.
Our assessment: for short hops to the station or between districts, MyRadl with a subscription is hard to beat. If your Deutschland-Ticket was not bought through the MVV app, it is worth checking the terms – switching where you buy it at the next renewal might pay off. That is not certain: the rules may change as more partners join.
Sources: muenchen.de, MVV, Abendzeitung München, MyRadl
