Bike rental

A bike rental or bike hire business rents out bicycles for short periods of time, usually for a few hours. Most rentals are provided by bike shops as a sideline to their main businesses of sales and service, but some shops specialize in rentals.

As with car rental, bicycle rental shops primarily serve people who do not have access to a vehicle, typically travellers and particularly tourists. Specialized bicycle rental shops therefore typically operate at beaches, parks, or other locations that tourists frequent. In this case, the fees are set to encourage renting the bikes for a few hours at a time, rarely more than a day.

Bicycle sharing systems allow members to sign out a bike from any public station, returning it to another at the end of their trip.