The Ecobici at City of Mexico stations are equipped with a system similar to an ATM where you can pay with your credit card and use the bike right away. Residents and tourists can rent a bike for 1, 3 or 7 days ($90, $180 and $300 MXN respectively) without the hassle of waiting at the Ecobici offices to register as a user. The hassle of only being able to use a Mexican credit card is now eliminated as well. Machines will accept both national and international Mastercards or Visas. Once you have submitted your payment, you are given the choice to select between 1, 3 or 7 days. You are then promoted to enter a code; either your unique code per use to use or the multi-use card that serves Metrobus, Metro and the trolleybus or electric tram service.
The system used to have 275 stations spread throughout 19 colonias, but today the availability has increased. In only 5 years, the Ecobici system has grown 400% due to user demand. Currently, they have 444 bike stations, more than 6,000 bikes and more than 100,000 users benefit from this service from Monday to Sunday inside a 35 km2 area.
When you use the Ecobici, you are allowed to use it for 45 minutes at a time. To avoid fines, you must leave the bike back at a station before your time is up and wait 5 minutes before taking another one.
You should be aware of the traffic and drivers. The use of bicycles has been promoted only during the past 5 years and, even though a lot of bicycle lanes are available, some areas will take you on normal roads.
You have to be cautious when cycling in the city. If you happen to have a cycling helmet at home, bring it with you! Otherwise, there are plenty of shops in Mexico City where you can buy a helmet. Cycling has become very trendy in Mexico City, so you might even pick up a really cool and unique design.
Free Bikes
Free Bikes are offered at certain locations around the city–next to the Cathedral, along Reforma and in Polanco, Condesa, Roma and Coyoacan. You can borrow a bicycle for 3 hours and you must return it to the same station where you picked it up.
On weekends they run out of bikes early, especially on Sundays when they close Reforma Avenue from 9 am to 2 pm. This is very practical and convenient, all you need is your passport.
The difference between that service and Ecobici is that Ecobici charges for the access to practical transportation in some of the tourist areas of the city and for the convenience of being able to pick up a bicycle at one station and drop it off at another.
There are 275 Ecobici cycle stations and 4,000 Ecobici bikes in circulation. The current level of usage is 25,000 trips each day. The average trip distance per ride is 8 kilometers (5 miles), the average trip time is 20-25 minutes; 80% of users are male, and the average ride saves 7.5 kg of atmospheric emissions.
Is there a down side?
Criticisms of Ecobici have been relatively minor. Initially, some riders complained that the cycle racks were sometimes completely full, meaning they had to cycle to an alternative cycle station where there was space to leave their bike, or that a cycle rack had no bikes to rent, in which case they had the inconvenience of finding another cycle station that did have bikes. Ecobici’s organizers regarded these issues as normal “teething problems” for any system of this scale, and this sort of complaint is now unusual. Authorities hope to implement a system at some point in the future which allows users to receive, via cell phone, real-time information about where bikes are available.
Other road users have complained that some of the Ecobici riders ignore traffic rules by, for example, cycling the wrong way down one-way streets, increasing the chance of an accident.
From September through December 2012, the system area expanded from 6.8 to 21 square kilometres (2.6 to 8.1 sq mi), which would bring the estimated number of users from 30,000 in September 2012 to 100,000.[5] And indeed, statistics from August 2013 showed 95,780 members registered; daily ridership averaged 25,000, versus 14,000 in December 2012; monthly ridership averaged 400,000.
By October 2013, the system covered the areas:
Historic center (Centro Histórico)
part of Colonia Guerrero
Colonia Tabacalera
Colonia San Rafael
Colonia Cuauhtémoc
Colonia Juárez including the Zona Rosa
Colonia Roma Norte and Colonia Roma Sur
Condesa
San Miguel Chapultepec
Escandón
Anzures
Polanco
In February 2014 it was announced that the system would be extended (Phase IV) with 2600 additional cycles and 170 new stations in the Benito Juárez borough, in the area bordered by Viaducto, Avenida Cuauhtémoc, Circuito Interior and Avenida Revolución, covering the colonias:
Acacias
Ciudad de los Deportes
Del Valle Centro, Norte, and Sur
Extremadura Insurgentes
Noche Buena
Nápoles
Narvarte
San Pedro de los Pinos
Xoco