Subscription, sharing, hire, leasing: Cycling instead of buying

A bike doesn’t always have to be your own

Whether it’s the morning journey from the station to the office, a holiday along the coast, or commuting for months on end with electric assistance: not every journey requires you to own a bike. If you pay for usage rather than ownership, you can avoid the upfront costs. However, the different models vary considerably.

​Our conclusions on subscriptions, hire and sharing

Sharing is ideal for short journeys; hire is suitable for one-off trips; a subscription is for everyday use for a limited period. A company bike lease is an option for longer-term use. When comparing options, you should look not only at monthly instalments, but also at total costs, service, contract terms and the actual intended use. The best model should suit your riding habits, not the other way round.

The latest survey by the industry association Zukunft Fahrrad counts 102,550 publicly accessible bike-share bikes nationwide as at 1 September 2026, 1.5 per cent more than in the previous year. Private bike subscriptions, by contrast, fell by two per cent to 98,000. In addition, there are an estimated 12,500 to 14,000 commercial subscriptions, predominantly for delivery services. This is hardly what one would call a nationwide boom. However, the association attributes the decline in private subscriptions to the withdrawal of two providers; the remaining providers saw a combined increase.

Cologne illustrates just how intensively shared bikes can be used: according to a press release, the KVB bike recorded a total of 2.88 million journeys in the first half of 2026, with an average of seven uses per bike per day. To clarify the difference: in the sharing model, a publicly accessible bicycle is usually hired via an app for a short journey and then returned to a station or within a designated area so that others can use it. In the rental model, on the other hand, a bicycle is hired for an agreed period – such as a day’s holiday or a week – and is then returned to the rental company.

With a subscription, on the other hand, a particular bike stays with the user for longer. Providers such as Swapfiets include maintenance and repairs. This can save everyday cyclists the hassle of carrying out repairs themselves or arranging a workshop appointment. However, the monthly costs continue to accrue even when the bike is not in use. The minimum contract term, notice period and any potential excess charges therefore deserve just as much attention as the initial price.

There are many reasons why traditional bike hire is a good option for holidays: no need to transport your own bike, and a bike for a limited period. On the Baltic Sea coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone, Zukunft Fahrrad estimates the number of tourist hire bikes at between 35,000 and 40,000. It is important to note that this is a regional estimate, not a nationwide survey. The other market figures are also based on information provided by suppliers and, in some cases, on estimates.

Company bike leasing is on a whole different scale. According to a joint study by Deloitte and Zukunft Fahrrad, the German fleet comprised around 2.2 million bikes by the end of 2025. This means that even a high-quality bike of one’s choice can be accessed through one’s employer. Whether this is worthwhile, however, depends on the specific offer. The study identifies contract terms and uncertainties surrounding a change of employer as critical issues. A low monthly instalment alone is therefore not yet a convincing selling point.

A comparison of subscriptions, sharing schemes, hire and leasing