TLDR: Please do yourself a favor and get one of several other options available around town. I drove to one of Austin B Cycle stations near Zilker park to bike around the park for some sightseeing. Got a 24-hr pass and got a bike pretty easily. Remember with 24hr pass, you have to return the bike every hour and check out a new one. That in itself is plenty of hassle. Problems quickly started when I tried to return my first bike to check out another one since my first hour was nearly up. I docked the bike. There was no beep, no green light. But the bike was clearly in place since I couldn't pull it back either. Since the station didn't register my return, I couldn't check out another bike. I called their "24/7" customer service to sort it out. Nobody picked up, with a repeated message of "first customer in line" for at least 10 minutes. At this point, it was getting dark and I was on the other side of the park. It seemed clear to me that nobody was going to pick up - surely, I couldn't be the "first customer in line" and not get help for 10 minutes. So I had to Uber back to my car. Next day, I called customer service again to make sure they are not going to rack up the fees since the bike wasn't registered as returned. After a few back and forth phone calls, they confirmed that there was a defect in that docking station. So, at the end of the day, I still had to pay for $12.99 for the 24-hr pass (because they didn't have refund policy), which I used for 30-40 minutes because of defects in their systems. Plus Uber fees to get back to my car. Plus just the inconvenience and frustration of getting stranded with no answer on customer service. Plus back and forth phone calls to make sure my card is not getting charged for whatever extra fees. Please just use any of the other options available. There are other bikes just lying around the city. You won't have to worry about finding a station or having to return it every hour. You won't have to worry about their docking stations being full or not functioning. And they might even end up cheaper, depending on how much you're going to bike. read more

I would use a different service. The app was slow and hangs in certain areas. I was my my kid and was not able to check out a bike from one the stations on campus. Had to go to another station and even then not able to check out more than one bike. Apparently, kids also need to have their own account. If you are just visiting for a short time, it's not worth it. We rented one at the park and it pretty pricey for the short time. $11 bucks for 62 Minutes. Apparently they charge minimum of half hour for $3. The sign said $1 but I missed the fine print. The was no way to contact them from the app. read more

This could be a cool service if it weren't for two things. Their payment language sucks and is obviously unclear to many. When I contacted their "customer service " group about the charges, I got the rudest response I have ever received. If they would've explained why I was charged the way I was politely no problem. Instead I get a shitty response right from the beginning. Customer service is key in any business. Why spend my money on crummy bikes and deal with jerks afterwards. Dont waste your money. read more

Horrible customer service. Do not sign up if you are a UT student, it is totally not worth it and they will bill you.

I wouldn't have enjoyed my trip to Austin as much if it hadn't been for the bike share. This isn't a walkable city but it is fairly bikeable. I hope more mainstream people, especially women, ride this because otherwise if you're in a car you're just hopping from parking lot to parking lot and the traffic is understandably heavy in the desirable and unique parts of Austin. I had issues with the app but you can just use your phone number at the station-- don't freak out if your app crashes and try to convince them not to use that specific cross platform mobile html5 tool-- someone probably thought it was a good idea at optimization but they have learned their lesson now. read more

Oh man.....Gavin is a condescending ass. After having the same issue with many of the people reviewing B Cycle, I called to dispute charges. He barely refrained himself from calling me stupid. When I pointed out that this was not the first time this issue has occurred he just stated that there are plenty of people that don't have issues. The bikes were great, but if the signage was clearer we would have gone to a traditional bike shop to rent bikes so we wouldn't have to turn the bikes in every 30 minutes. If this was my company I would never have someone with as poor of people skills as Gavin answering the phones. Actually, I wouldn't have Gavin anywhere close to my company. read more

The pricing description at the station is extremely confusing!! I took the bike out for a couple of hours under the belief that I was going to be charged an $8 day pass and then $4 every 30 minutes exceeding that. I thought it would be a fun way to explore the city on a beautiful day, but it ended up being very expensive - $50 for 2 people read more

Horrible business plan cost me $240 for two bikes, if you do not park them every 30 minutes they rake you over the coals. They might say $8 for 24 hours per bike but I paid $120 per bike. You call them and you get hipster attitude all the way. Nope your not getting refunded to a reasonable amount sir. Well guess what your yelp rating sucks your business model sucks, your customer service sucks, and if Austin had any sense they would dump you from their lovely town, you can't even ride around the lake with your stupid bikes. I will dispute this charge which will cost you $35 and only pay the amount of two days and you have another crappy yelp review good idea. read more

I so want to like this service but it's SO hard when the bikes are so crappy. I always have to go through one or two at the station I use (14th and Colorado) before I find a good one. This becomes further complicated by the fact that there are normally no more than 3 to choose from at any given time. I just don't see how you can be a bike share system that doesn't take care of its bikes or monitor your stations? read more

My boyfriend, his brother and I used Austin B cycle this weekend. Our experience was not a good one. We had been sitting at a coffee shop enjoying our brew before we were going to head over to Rainey for cocktails. We intended on using Fasten (the local cab alternative) to get to our next location but we had stared at the B Cycle station while we sat there so we decided that it might be a fun alternative to get to our destination and see a little bit of Austin. We walked over to the cycle station to check out pricing, etc. and only saw the $8/24hrs. I looked at the website while we were standing there to try to find an FAQ section for any additional fees or any fine print and didn't see anything. (I didn't think to check Yelp but I sure do wish I would have, given the poor reviews.) While we were trying to decide if we were going to ride, two cyclists rode up looking to return their bikes but there were no available docks so we asked them what they have to do to return them and they told us we would have to find another station with available docks. They also said that it was the first time they had experienced and had been riding for at least 6 hours that day. We chose to give it a shot even though at $24 for 3 people it would be a far more expensive than taking the Fasten ride for one trip. Once we got to Rainey, of course, all the docks were full, so we chained our bikes with a plan to check periodically for open docks while we had a drink. My boyfriend found an available dock about an hour after we got there and docked it. Then maybe 30 min later his brother and I received text messages stating we were to be charged $4 for every 30 min. I was confused given that we had paid for the $8/24hr pass. So I called and was told that in fact you must dock the bikes once every 30 min or you would be charged regardless of what pass you paid for. Within 10 min of that call a dock opened and my bike was returned, his brothers was returned within 20 or so. At this point we were done and did not check out another bike for the rest of the 24 hr period. Two days later I received a text stating that I would be charged $17.32; more than TWICE the amount advertised. I immediately called and left a message for them to call me back and looked again at the website to try to find where it states the additional charges and then realized that it does say it, although it is not clearly stated and I believe it is pretty obvious this company is taking advantage of that fact. When they called me back the next day I told the customer service representative what happened and said that I even looked for an FAQ before we rented the bikes and didn't see one on their website. She said there was one right there on the front page and she was sorry I didn't see it in a very condescending manner that stated she was not sorry at all. She also said she was sorry I couldn't understand their pricing, again in a manner that implied I was stupid for not getting it. She did offer to refund half of the charges, given that I am a 'first time customer of the bike share program.' I let her know that I am in fact a one-time customer. The charges for the 3 of us for having them all checked out for 2 hours and 10 min was $47.52 - we definitely should have opted to take the Fasten, at would have been at most 10 bucks and far less hassle. Seriously, one of the worst experiences renting anything ever. read more

Visitor and read rental law. Two bikes rented, had to switch one bike, unridable, and had a pleasant three hour cruise. $12.99 per bike ended costing $60. Ambiguous rental instructions for a dolt like me and I know the company wants to make money, but I can not recommend it. read more

Terrible system! Instructions are very unclear. Customer service doesn't call you back. I do not recommend Austin B Cycle!

Best way to get around Austin. Check your brakes. Plenty of locations to check in and check back out again. An hour is plenty between stops. All you need is a credit card and some money. Easy process. read more

I actually loved using B Cycle during SXSW but I discovered a mysterious charge for $73 on my card after I got back home to Florida from Austin. No explanation. read more

I signed up for B-cycle with a student account when it was free. I made sure to turn off the auto-renew feature and emailed to make sure my subscription was cancelled. Even though I did all of this, I was still charged. After speaking with customer service, they cancelled the charge and told me there was a "glitch" in the system and that I would not be charged again. Fast forward one month and they have charged me yet again. read more

We rented 2 bikes at Mopac Bridge hike & bike trail to ride around the lake's full 10.2 miles.....the B Cycle payment system was the only thing easy about the whole 'adventure' (assuming I don't get dinged with some unexpected charges like others reviewers have stated)....we selected bikes which had decent seats as many did not....of course, there's no way to check the front ends, brakes or shift gears until you pull them out.....both bikes had the squirreliest front ends ever experienced....it's almost like we thought we must have forgotten how to steer a bike which we didn't since we regularly ride on our own 'real' bikes....the brakes on one bike were barely functional and made a horrendous noise.....the gear mechanisms didn't function properly on either as they kept slipping in and out of whatever they were put in.....one of us crashed into a fixed object since the steering was too loosey-goosey to properly avoid it....bottom line: our bikes were in such poor condition that they were basically unsafe just riding around the lake....our advice: avoid and bring your own bikes or go to one of the nearby bike shops that have maintained rentals....the city should revoke whatever rights they have granted this business.... read more

You can read the reviews below and see how a lot of people get over charged or are just confused by the billing concept. Piece of crap bikes that cost way too much. $4 every 30 minutes over your initial 30? What a joke. read more

Rented 4 bikes on Sat. 2 of them lacked kickstands, 1 the seat could not be adjusted-it slipped and sank to the lowest setting, one squeaked awfully. $48 for one hour for shoddy bikes. Will look elsewhere next time. read more

Some of the racks are faulty and WILL NOT REGISTER YOU RETURNING YOUR BIKE. Despite the fact that they don't register the bike being returned it's locked in place. This happened to me recently, I tried calling them to sort out the issue and was on hold for an hour before giving up. The next day they called me asking where I turned in the bike, I told them and a few hours later got a text confirming that the ride had ended. The next day they charged me $81 for what should have been a $5 trip. After calling them to dispute the charge they said the "Bike was in the kiosk but not in the rack" which is a blatant lie. I asked if they would refund me and they said no, keep in mind I called at the time this happened before and there was no answer so there was literally nothing else I could do. I called my bank and they are disputing the charges for me and I also filed a report with the Better Business Bureau. read more

prices are ridiculous, and they keep charging you. i got charged $35 for 1 hour 2 bikes and they ran out of charge 20 minutes later and i had to walk back to my car and to find a station to turn it in. called customer service and they keep saying i think it's this or that they don't even know what i got charged for. on of that bike is peace of shit. not a good fit for Austin don't let them rip you off don't use it and get a scooter instead read more

As my first time using the bikes it was very enjoyable and would use it again if they wouldn't be so misleading with the "24 hour pass" basically if you look hard enough you'll see small print that says you have to check in every hour. I had to pay additional $5 days later because of this.So what's the point of getting a 24hr pass if I have to waste my time every hour to check in? IMO they need to fix that and they'll have themselves a fine bike rental. read more

Lurve this program and I hope to see it continue to expand east and north thru West campus! It's the fastest way to get around during SXSW and the yearly membership is a comparative steal. If you spend alot of time downtown, you'll be surprised how often having a membership comes in clutch when you need to be somewhere FAST! read more

Austin B Cycle is amazing. The annual membership is a steal ($80 per year) so I use it all the time. It's way more convenient than calling a taxi or Uber if you're trying to get around the downtown area, especially when there's festivals or major events going on. 10/10 would recommend if you frequent the downtown area. read more

Ok so let me clear up some confusion. These bikes are to get from point A to point B, not to leisurely ride around all day. You get 24 hours of unlimited use as long as you dock it every 30 minutes. They do this so that others may have access to bikes while you are eating lunch or laying out at Barton Springs. Its called bike-sharing. Anyway I love B-cycle. I work downtown and hate moving my vehicle and worrying about parking to go grab lunch or run errands. B-cycle always saves the day and allows me some outdoorsy adrenaline time before I head back to the office. I have the annual pass and totally suggest it to anyone who works or lives downtown. Even if you go to more than 10 crowded events in a year it pays for itself. Pretty dope! read more

A convenient and cheap way to explore the city. Large baskets on the bike made it useful to go site seeing and shopping all day.

This company is ripping A LOT of people off!! My wife and I used for the first time this past weekend and like MANY other people were confused that an "unlimited 24 hrs use for $8 " is only correct if you return bike within 30 mins. We are obviously not the first people who misunderstood their wording, VERY misleading!! We were charged an extra $40 for riding the bikes about 15 minutes, stopping for dinner, and returning a few hrs later. After a phone call to the office, we were made to feel stupid for not reading the smallprint correctly, AND for not reading the NUMEROUS reviews like this to see it happens to MANY PEOPLE!!! I was actually told " if you would have read the reviews online beforehand you could see this happens a lot"!! Their "policy" is to only refund half the extra amount. Ridiculous the city is allowing them to take advantage of so many people with their misleading description!! I will never use again and encourage everyone else to boycott until they clear up this mess and give complete refunds to people making honest mistakes!! read more

In early July they advertised that you could sign up for a month for FREE! I did so and used the bikes several times. I cancelled yesterday because I will be out of town for several months. Today, they sent me an email informing me that they had charged my credit card $22. I called and they told me that because I had kept the bikes more than 30 minutes (!!!who uses a bike for only 30 minutes????) there were some charges that they had not explained in the ad or at the time I signed up. What the ...........???? If it s free, how can there be some special charges that they do not inform you are in the fine print. Not mad men---just con men. read more

I have been riding B Cycle on and off since it began. I have also lived in different cities and countries (NYC, Dublin etc) and use the Bike share programs everywhere, even when I travel (Barcelona, Montreal as examples) they all have their problems similar to B Cycle. This whole concept is a work in progress. It will never be perfect. There will always be flaws. Not enough stations, full docks, empty docks, broken bells, skipping chains, odd pricing structures. It is what it is, yet I applaud B cycle and their efforts to enhance the Austin experience and decrease the congestion. People must understand that B Cycle is not a huge profit machine that can appease to everyone but a non profit that is dependent on sponsors, subsidies, donations and volunteers. There are going to be hiccups. If you think Fasten or other rideshares are a better option, use them, but they are also not perfect as y'all know. Or even try driving your own car...good luck with that. Constructive criticism is good, just understand it is a imperfect system in an imperfect world but all in all a great thing for the city known for its horrific traffic. Oh yeah, if you want to use a bike all weekend and not be concerned about the pricing or time limits, there are numerous bike rental places in Austin. Use them. And a suggestion, go to Target or Walmart, buy a cheap bike. This is great if you are here for a few days or more, and you can sell it when you leave, or better yet, donate it. Another suggestion, if you are staying with a friend when visiting, go on Amazon, order a bike and have it delivered to them. read more

I have to agree with quite a number of reviews here. Do not rent unless you clearly understand what you are getting into ( and if you understand, perhaps you will have a better experience). Even though you are buying a 24 hour access, you will be charged for every time that you use the bike over 30 minutes within that 24 hour period. The inconsistently worded messages make it seem that you will be charged for every half-hour that you are keeping the bike past the 24 hours. Again, let me paraphrase, this is not the case. What it means is that you can take a bike out numerous times within 24 hours as long as none of the uses exceed 30 mins at a time. Being a first user of this bike share but a regular renter of bikes, I opted out of the texting option hoping to keep my phone clear of promotional texts. I got a welcome text and got a code to unlock the bike. However, I did not get a text message to say anything like " your bike has been out for more than 30 mins now and you are starting to incur late charges" at any point during my 24 hours. I would have hustled right back and returned the bike, had I received that text to realize that I must have misinterpreted the phrasing of the conditions. Instead, I ( and my two friends who also shared my understanding of 24 hour access) kept the bike overnight, (each of us) waking up to a $80 bill on top of the $8 rental fee for 24 hours. Very expensive 24 hour bike rental indeed! Why would I care to get the gratuitous welcome message when "opting out of text messages" while much more important "you are now being charged" is only selectively sent to those who have opted into text messages? It seems to be the company is deliberately keeping the phrasing ambiguous, omitting to notify customers of running into overcharges and capitalizing on the customers' misunderstanding. It seems that this is not an infrequent happening, both in reading other reviews and talking to the rep. I suggest the company consider the feedback of its customers, see in which conditions and how frequently this same misunderstanding comes up and what they can do to streamline customer experience to keep them coming back. I speak for three of us that we won't be. This incident tinted unpleasantly my short time in Austin, the view of the company, the willingness to engage in any further bike shares. read more

Watch out for these thieves and do not swipe your credit cards into their money stealing bike depots. Note there is not one real positive review about these guys on this site. These guys are fraudsters and their bike dangerous clunkers. I rented a bike w a broken handle bar. I didn't realize until a few blocks away and had to stop riding. When I called the phone number discretely put on the bike asking them to collect their faulty clunker bike they said we did not only rent me a dangerously faulty bike but will now take $75 from my card. Not only were the three people I spoke to in their offices clearly fraudsters they were extremely rude and stubborn in their decisions to take my credit card hostage. I mean I almost broke my neck on their piece of garbage bike and then they also take my credit hostage. I plan to contact the city shortly to notify them of these fraudsters putting the public in danger with there defective extremely poor quality "civic" bike service. Seriously heed all the negative reviews on Yelp about these guys. I was at least refreshed to see there are other disillusioned customers who have taken the time to tell others to AVOID THESE THIEVES AT ALL COSTS. read more

I really want to like this but I felt like the bikes are really crappy compare to the one in Houston. It's so hard to brake. I thought it was just my bike but my BF was the same. I never had problem with the brakes in Houston. Not only that. I thought it was only 8 dollars per bike. In Houston, we paid 5 dollars for membership and I get an hour free of charge. So I never got charge but for membership unless I go over an hour and 30 mins. And even if I do get charge. It's only 2 dollars each additional 30 mins after an hour. I guess I never had additional charges in Houston so I thought the system work the same way in Austin since they are both own by the same company. I didn't know it was an additional 4 dollars every 30 mins. I end up paying around 17 dollars plus the 8.77 for membership per bike. Usually I wouldn't complain but I actually had to paid for two bikes so everything total was 45ish. I felt like I was a lil blindsided so maybe it was partially my fault for not reading the signs on the bike but like I said I never had additional charges in Houston so I thought it would work the same way in Austin .I would never rent Austin b cycle bike again. Their bikes quality are less than mediocre and it is too expensive for a low quality bike read more

I'm really wanting to like this new potential for clean transit. And it certainly does have some good points. But there is also much to be desired. Sure the bikes are big and heavy, but they kinda have to be, considering how much use they (might) get. That's not a deal breaker for me. The check out process is fairly straight forward. These bikes are meant for short commutes really... check them out, get to your destination, check them back in quickly. I get that. But the big annoyances are this: on this past occasion, after a short 15 minute jaunt from town lake to downtown, I pop the bike in the little kiosk and proceed on my way. Only apparently the station didn't register the bike as being returned. Later I got an email at 2 am saying, effectively, "where's the bike?" Which caused me quite a bit of panic because if you lose the bike or it's stolen etc, you're out $1200! I went back to the station that morning and found the bike there, as I had left it. When I called the help desk, they responded that the bike had failed to register on the kiosk but that the system had "found it" when it reset at midnight. Dunno if that was user error on my part or what but the moral of the story is... when you return the bike... *be sure* that it locks in place and that the little light on the station blinks "returned". Otherwise any bum off the street could snag the bike and you'd be charged. Whew. Only other complaint is that the website kinda sucks. You can't reset your password, and when you login and click on links like "my statements" or "my trips" it spits back "No hay registros que mostrar"... Huh? All in all, there are a few kinks to work out but I think this has some good potential. read more

I travel often for work and recently spent some time in Austin where I decided to rent a BCycle bike. I picked it up in the city center, and saw online that there was a bike stop in front of my apartment. So I used the bike for the evening, however upon returning home quite late, I realized there wasn't a bike stop as advertised by my place. I spent about 15 minutes wandering around outside at 3am by myself looking for the stop, and eventually decided to leave the bike in front of my apartment as I felt uncomfortable, and didn't want to have to walk back from another bike dock alone by myself at night. I wrote to your company's customer service because due to the misinformation, I was put in a potentially unsafe situation, and I do not want this to happen to someone else. The response I received did not include an apology, and in fact it was quite condescending, stating that "We don't own Google." You might not own Google, but as an established company you do have a responsibility to monitor the information listed online about your business, especially if it can have an impact on the safety of your customers. I hope you will take heed of this note. It takes less than 10 seconds to update your business's location on Google. It's a very simple step to take that will not only improve the experience of your customers, but will help to ensure their safety as well. Personally, I will not be using your business again. But please for the sake of your future customers, ensure the information listed online about your company is correct. read more

I have used B-Cycle for nearly a year now, but the other day when I went to unlock a bike from a kiosk, the app malfunctioned and I could not get a bike. I was in a hurry so I just ran to work since it was only a mile, but I received an email 2 hours later saying that I was charged extra fees for not returning my bike. When I left work, I received a notice that my bike was returned but it was not me. B-Cycle refused to hear my claims and return my emails before ultimately charging my account $43 for an event that was not within my control. Their poor management and customer service teams acted in bad taste toward a customer who has been loyal through their growth stages and supported them with membership and constant usage. Such utter disregard to the customer experience is disappointing. To think that I was charged money for an action that was within their control is honestly sad, especially considering that they would not even pick up calls or return my emails asking about the situation. I can no longer recommend B-Cycle as a viable option to anybody considering purchasing a membership from them. I can see that I am not alone in my sentiments as so many others have rated B-Cycle so terribly on the App Store, so you cannot help but wonder why they would not go to any sort of length to improve their customer relations. read more

I really enjoy this service and the payment plan is written out clearly all over the docks. It's amazing how many customers have written bad reviews here based on their own misjudgment. It's true I'd like to have some better bikes but they are functional and it's a good service. I also wish they'd expand a bit further south down Congress and Lamar but as it stands they are doing great things for this city and I'm grateful to have them. read more

affordable, convenient, and easy to understand. what more do you want from a bike-share program? people who complained about a "scam" simply didn't read what they were agreeing to. they're not burying the costs in fine print. read more

I'm in love with B-Cycle ATX. I ride my bike all the time up here in Minneapolis, so I have never used the similar MPLS "Nice Ride" service. However, I used B-Cycle for every day I was in Austin for SXSW. It totally transformed my SXSW experience. I could get from the Fader Fort to my hotel on S. Congress in 10 minutes. $8 sounds like a lot, but it's for a full 24 hours. It's about a million times cheaper than a single pedi cab ride. The bikes are super fun. They aren't race bikes at all. Yeah, they are heavy, but the gearing was really pleasant. I rode them over 20 times over the course of 4 days and never had one slip out of gear, encountered missing stations, or charged more than it said it would. The only broken bike I encountered was not able to be checked out. If you get a broken bike, swap it out! The app works really well - tells you where there are available spaces and bikes. I wish you could find out how much time you had left in your 24 hours, though. That would be nice functionality to include in the service. read more

I don't understand all of the bad reviews. This is NOT an all day bike rental. Read the directions, people! This is meant to get you from point A to point B. It's wonderful. I use it daily during SXSW and weekly other times. Love my B-Cycle!!! read more