City bikes
Bike & Rail – unique experiences by train and bike
Hop on a train, using the app book your Donkey Republic city bike on the way and pick up the bike at Vilppula railway station. Pedal away to enjoy Mänttä-Vilppula experiences!
DISCOUNT CODE! With the code SERLACHIUS, you get a 50% discount on Bike & Rail bike rental. The discount code can be used once and it is valid until the end of August 2023. We reserve the right to make changes in this campaign.
RENTING AND USING THE BIKE
Download Donkey Republic mobile app into your mobile phone. Register as a user by adding your telephone number, e-mail and pay card.
Open the app and expand the map so that you can find the bike stations in Mänttä-Vilppula. Book a bike at Vilppula railway station or at Serlachius Museum Gustaf. If there are at that moment no bikes available at the station, the app does not show marker dot on the station.
Make sure that your phone’s Bluetooth is on.
Choose the bike you want to use. Each bike has been named so that they can be identified. After you have chosen a bike, you are able to see the price list and accept the terms of use of the bike. At will, you may reserve a bike 12 hours in advance for an additional fee of 4 euros.
Altogether 20 bikes are available in the Art Town. You may reserve up to five bikes at a time. Give the e-mail address of each user in the app. During the booking period, each bike user may open the lock of their bike by registering themselves in the application using the given e-mail address.
You may also acquire a bike insurance valid for 24 hours for 2 Euros. If something should happen to your bike during the booking period, your excess is few tens at most.
PRICES
1 h – € 2
2 h – € 3
4 h – € 5
6 h – € 6
12 h – € 10
24 h – € 12
48 h – € 20
Additional days € 5 /day
Kaakau controls Donkey Republic city bikes; for customer service and fault reports contact: tel. +358 (0)44 71 606 44 (open daily 9 am–7 pm). Further information at KaaKau website.
Press button OPEN in the app when you stand close to the bike. Your phone will contact the bike’s lock through Bluethooth and open it.
Adjust the bike’s saddle and test the brakes. The bike has no foot brake. You may take a ride anywhere you like.
You may lock your bike normally during the booking period. Press the lock button in the app and wait until the lock reacts. Subsequently, under the seat press down the orange button on the lock attached to the rear wheel. With the orange button remaining pressed down the bike is locked. This does not terminate your booking.
Termination of use and rental
Drop the bike off either to Vilppula railway station or to Serlachius Museum Gustaf. Lock the bike normally. The bike identifies its position at the return station. The return button on your mobile app turns green. Press it. The application takes a while to confirm that the bike is locked and that everything is in order. This terminates your booking, and you will receive a summary of your journey.
If you drop your bike off anywhere else than to the stated stations at the end of the rental period, a fine will be sent to you for a wrongly parked bike.
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND HELP US DEVELOP THE SERVICE
Bike & Rail is a part of the project of Sustainable Tourism Mobility in testing sustainable tourism mobility. Tampere university makes user survey to develop the service and collects feedback from the users.
Our aim is to develop Bike & Rail into a low threshold service for bicycle tourism in Järvien Reiteille and via the network of Kaakau city bikes also in other parts of Finland.
