Bike sharing in Czech Republic
UncategorizedTranscript of interview with my dear friend Petr Dvořák
1 . Hey Pete, could you introduce yourself and what do you actually do?
Hi Dominik, I currently study marketing same as you. I am 22 years old and I was born and raised in Prague. Currently I work for Rekola – Czech bike sharing project. I work as marketing director for Rekola since 2021.
2. What does it mean to be marketing director for such a project? What do you actually do?
I have been working with Rekola since 2019 in the marketing department, so I know most of the team. For me, being a marketing director means a lot of responsibility. I coordinate a big part of the companys communication with the public. Thanks to the good company policies, I can work mostly when I want to and wherever from I want to.
3. What exactly is Rekola?
We are almost 10 year old project and we currently operate in 4 Czech cities (Praha, Brno, Olomouc, České Budějovice) and 1 in Slovakia (Bratislava). If I remember correctly, we have around 300 000 users and we are still growing. Our goal is to make Prague and also other cities cleaner and bikesharing more accessible.
4. How does it all work?
Okay, as I said, we are bikesharing company. You download our app, fill-in all the needed personal info, add payment option that you prefer. and you are ready to go. You unlock the lock on one of our bikes, hop on, ride wherever you want to, lock it and pay for the time spent on the bike. The principle and usage is really simple and useful.
5. How did COVID-19 crisis affect the company
We had to let go some people, but also some locations where we operated. In 2019 we were in 11 cities, in 2020 it was just 6. We still made the best of it at and for example for some months in 2020 we made it possible to use Rekola bikes for free.
6. Do you enjoy what you do?
Luckily I do. As you know I have been biking in the nature most of my life. Biking and bikes overall are my hobby. Plus my studies in marketing have been great help in my actual work, when I have to creat a real content for our social media.
7. May I ask why the pink colour for the bikes? I have always wondered if there is any deeper meaning.
Haha, there actually is no hidden meaning or psychology factor. When our founder Vítek started the project with few bikes, he painted them pink because people do not steal pink bikes at all. It is really, really hard to sell them. It became custom and now everyone recognizes our bikes from far away.
8. Do you have fun in your work?
Oh boy, yes I do. There is so much freedom and we have done some good and funny projects as company. Last winter I had an idea that people can rent a sleigh from us to bobsleigh. It got a real good feedback from the public.
9. Do you personally use Rekola? Also how safe is it to bike in Prague?
I do, It is a great advantage to bike around bike. I only use it when I do not use my own bike, or when I do not want to wait for a tram. One must beware of the cars and trams when he bikes. I cannot say that I have ever been in dangerous situation while I was biking. But you know, you have to always pay attention to your surroundings.